The Last of Us: Recalled to Life ll
by Writingthisish
Summary: Part two to the series. After the events of part l, Ellie and Joel continue their lives at Jackson County, but soon learn that great dangers lie at hand, driving them to extreme measures.
1. Chapter One: Divide

**SPRING**

 **CHAPTER ONE**

Divide

* * *

 **A/N: This is a second part to an already finished fanfic. I suggest you read part l first. Thank you for everybody who decided to continue sticking with this story, inspite of the sudden change. I owe you guys an apology for that. It means the world to me that you would still read this crap that I write. I love you guys, you're awesome :D**

 **Theres one thing I really wish to address in tlou fanfiction community. I observe so often that there's this stigma around Joel or Ellie finding any romantic interest in a story. I don't get it. I really don't. They walk into the town with the hopes of having second chances at life, so they would obviously take anything that comes their way. Think of yourself in that situation. After all those 20 years of brutality, when you finally enter normalcy for the first time, wouldn't you want to embrace it? I get it with Joel, his priority is always Ellie and that's a given. But I don't understand why people think the presence of a romantic interest in his life would overpower his dynamic with Ellie. That's stupid.**

 **Joel maybe damaged beyond repair, but if there's one thing that's always been constant in him is his mental soundness. He's endured more harshness than anybody can imagine, been through and done things that would question his humanity, and yet he can always make the better judgement. With the Fireflies and Marlene? I don't think it was a breakdown. He still stuck to his decision, after everything he did for Ellie. He might've been impulsive, but he knew exactly what he wanted and didn't care what he had to do to get it. And also, once they start living in the town, Joel and Ellie will eventually have to have their own flow. They can't stick to each other all the time, society doesn't work that way. Think of yourself and your parent/guardian. Put yourself in Ellie's shoes. Accepting a normal day-to-day life requires them to let other people into their lives, maybe as friends or lovers.**

 **Thanks for sitting through my ramblings. Even after all that, if you find JoelxOC and ElliexOC weird, well I can't help you. You're entitled to your own opinion. Don't hate.**

 **You can read the fanfic now. Can't tell how long this is gonna be, just gonna have to wait and watch. Hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

'Look at that,' Joel mumbled lightly, his finger pointed ahead at a fleeting silhouette, four long legs leaping through trees and bending to get a taste of fresh green.

'It's still young,' Kenda said, as her eyes lingered on the doe, in slight wonder. The sun was thin, like it was still waking from its slumber. The first signs of dying winter had been knocking at their doorstep for nearly two weeks. A bird chirped on a nearby branch, a twig cracked. The doe grazed on the thin grass poking out of the white ground.

 _Thwack_.

It's body sank to the snow, red seeping into the white and blending to taint the forest floor.

'Clean shot,' Joel grunted casually, as he got up and made his way to the kill. Kenda still held her bow up, sighed once. She watched him as he pulled the arrow out of it's neck and tied its front legs together. She stood up, waiting for him as he dragged it with the rope.

They tied it to her horse, using Roger to travel back to town together, since the doe took all the space on hers. They rode in silence, exchanging only comments about the snow, the weather, the day in general.

Joel was never one to find silences awkward. On the contrary, he preferred them to constant quipping. He found something beautiful in two people enjoying each others' company in solitude. Today though, he could tell the silence carried some sort of heaviness. Like something was waiting to be shared, but an invisible wall sat between them.

He helped her off the horse as they reached the diner in the town, dragged the kill in to sell it to the cook. They exchanged it for some spices, a sack of corn cobs and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

They came home to an empty living room, eerily quiet, with the sun streaming in through the window. Joel placed the goods in the kitchen and came back out, sitting by Kenda on the couch.

'So, we got the whole day to ourselves,' he said, as he exhaled in peace and leaned back, resting his head against the edge. 'My patrol duty's not until tomorrow afternoon.'

'Where's Ellie?' Kenda asked, her eyes drifting to upstairs. The hallway and the rooms were empty too.

'Her and Vera are over at Angelica's,' he said. 'Doin' somethin'.'

'Oh,' Kenda mumbled, her eyes on the open door, gazing out at the thin snow that still lingered on the street. She saw three kids passing by, smiling, talking, water guns in hand.

Joel looked at her discreetly, observing her disturbing silence, her distant attitude. He saw the faint lines on the sides of her eyes that the sun traced, strands of hair coated in the light, soft and golden.

'Hey,' he gently called, sitting up and moving towards her, leaning in to look into her eyes as she turned to him.

'Somethin' on your mind?' he asked, as he saw her masking her emotions immediately, giving a light shrug.

'No,' she mumbled, with a jerk of her eyebrows, like she was caught off-guard. 'It's just . . the weather. It's changing and I have this weird feeling about it. That's it . .'

Joel's concerned gaze lingered on her for a while, and she shook her head, giving him a wry smile, squeezing his fingers. 'I'm okay, really,' she nodded. She took a deep breath, swallowing the emotion. She wrapped her hands around his shoulders and pressed her forehead against his lovingly.

'Alright, then,' Joel uttered gently, his eyebrows still drawn together, but light hands finding her waist. A crease formed between his brows at her poorly formed excuse.

She ran her fingers in his hair, stroking a long strand that was poking out from under his ear, almost touching the angle of his jaw.

'I think it's time for your cut,' she mumbled, and he glanced at her once, tired. 'Already?' he uttered, incredulously. 'The scissors is in the kitchen.'

Kenda brought them, and sat down beside him as he leaned forward, head held up as she picked out the longer strands and chipped them off.

She gently pushed his face to the side, as she cut the hair behind the right ear. His gaze fell on her, on her neck, her copper skin. When she was done, his eyes lingered, flickering, scanning her face, lips parting like he was going to say something.

'What?' she asked softly, putting the scissors aside, noticing his sudden distraction.

He hesitated for a few seconds, before masking everything, burying it. Then he cleared his throat and shook his head.

She said nothing, simply let her eyes travel his face as he looked away. She stroked his hand once, comfortingly.

'She'll come around,' she mumbled. He felt the words twisting the pain in his chest, saw the swaying branches outside the window. Heard a lonely breeze shaking them.

'She's a big girl. She'll understand.'

Joel didn't reply, and his silence was comforting enough for her. It was a normal response for him.

He squeezed her hand in response, leaning back onto the couch, head turned toward the ceiling.

He wondered if Ellie would ever forgive him.

* * *

Vera jumped down from the wall, looked back up to find Ellie following her. Johnny came in last, stumbled at the top and fell on his bum.

'Goddamit, Johnny,' Ellie muttered, shaking her head gently.

'There was moss!' he exclaimed, his voice slightly louder. The two girls shushed him, anxious.

'We gotta be fucking quiet,' Ellie whispered, leaning in. The narrow street was almost empty, except for an old lady that was passing by. They lingered behind the walls of a neighbouring street, under the shadow of the pawn shop's ceiling.

'Nobody can know,' Ellie added, and Johnny nodded sincerely.

'Let's go,' Vera mumbled, and led them behind the building, into a narrow alley between the neighbouring wall and the pawn shop, stopping in front of the metal hatch that sat on the ground midway.

'Sometimes Paul leaves it open,' Vera explained. 'Like today. I saw them bringing new supplies earlier. They probably left for lunch or something, so we gotta hurry.'

'If we get caught,' Ellie said, her eyebrows raised. 'It's all going on you, you know that right?'

Vera held her gaze for a second, and then shrugged. 'We'll see. Let's go.'

The three of them entered the hatch one after the other, fell into the store room below the level.

Vera rummaged through an old box, carefully moving few things and roughly pulling away the others.

'Aha!' she uttered, pulling out a smaller box, about the size of three fists. It was a plastic box, yellow in colour, and had different flashing pictures on the cover. It was faded, but the label still clearly spoke of the contents: _SPARKLERS. Not for children under 10. Inflammable._

'What's that?' Ellie asked, moving closer, taking the box in her hands.

'Oh, you'll like this,' Vera nodded. 'There should be a few more in there.'

Ellie looked back at the store room, as Vera and Johnny rummaged through the box again. She saw a number of unnamed boxes, the tops of which stuck out with different things - clothes, machine parts, books, ammunition. She walked to a nearby box full of papers, and went through some of them, seeing nothing but a bunch of notes about different delivery timings.

'Who do you think asked for these?' Johnny questioned, as they returned with three more boxes of sparklers. 'They look dangerous.'

Vera scoffed. 'You guys really know nothing,' she said, observing their clueless faces. 'Come on. I'll show you.'

They took the same way back up again, keeping the hatch back in place. Then they walked to the stables, to the grounds which were left open about this time of the day.

Vera pulled out a few match sticks and showed them, holding the sparklers down, the lights flashing and buzzing as they twinkled and fell to the dying snow on the ground.

Ellie's eyes widened with fascination as she took one from Vera, saw the changing red yellow and orange, the twinkling, dancing lights that looked like flowers.

'This guy from the zone used to find these for kids,' Vera explained. 'He found other firecrackers too, but I don't think we'd get them anywhere now.'

'It's kinda cool,' Ellie flashed a nervous smile, her fingertips wary as the sparklers climbed up to the tip. She held it away, and saw with twinkling eyes as the lights diminished, and finally disappeared at the end, like something invisible had consumed them.

'Eh,' Johnny shrugged, holding one in his hand, turning it over. 'It's boring.'

'You're boring,' Ellie retorted, glaring at him as she lit another in her hand.

The spark climbed to Johnny's fingertips and he squealed, dropping the stick onto the snow, where it sizzled and turned the snow black. The girls laughed, Ellie held her stomach as she saw his terrified face and slightly blackened nails.

'Not so boring now, huh?' Vera nudged him. Johnny simply grunted like it wasn't a big deal, but grimaced when she held out another sparkler for him.

'Wuss,' Ellie giggled, her eyes travelling back to her hands.

The sky turned a pale orange as the sun began to set. Horses neighed in the stables behind them, and towns people passed by on the street, paying no attention to the three teenagers in the grounds, talking, laughing.

A shadow lingered in the rocks far away, beyond the reaches of the town. A pair of watchful eyes drifted to the stables, and saw the three kids on the pale greenish white grounds.

Ellie felt a chill pass down her spine, and turned back immediately, her eyes drifting across the trees and rocks behind them, gauging the mountains.

'What's wrong?' Johnny asked, following her line of sight.

Ellie realised that her eyes were looking for something, like her instinct had kicked in suddenly with no explanation. Like someone, or something, was watching.

'Nothing,' she mumbled, looking at the grass under her.

The chill on her spine lingered until she left the stables to go home.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. If you've stuck with the story since the beginning, please review/follow. Love.**


	2. Chapter Two: Regrets

**CHAPTER TWO**

Regrets

* * *

Kenda walked through the bridge, her bow in hand, backpack on her shoulders. She saw the wide stretch of colours in front of her, spring flowers blooming on the cliffs among the pine trees. She made her way down and around the collapsed end of the road, climbing up the rocks. Once at the top, she checked her diary for guidance.

'Is this it?' Ellie asked behind her, panting, hands resting on her knees. She took a deep breath and held her stomach. 'Oh man, that was some climb.'

Kenda grinned, going through the pages. 'Come on, you're just fifteen. You can do better than that.'

'Well, yeah,' she took a swig from her canteen, and shrugged. 'But laziness and all that. Been a while since I moved so much.'

'Well lucky for you,' Kenda mumbled, putting her book back in her backpack. 'We're almost there.'

'What are we looking for, anyway?' Ellie asked, following her up the trail, among the canopy of lush green trees and ferns. Pale sun peeked in from gaps in the leaves, dappling the green forest floor. Ellie heard chirps and scurries from squirrels, the soothing sound of a flowing stream nearby.

'Plantain and Yarrow,' Kenda replied. 'Just follow my lead. I'll pick a sample and show you, and then you can help.'

'Have you done this before?' Ellie asked. She saw a rabbit hop by, disappearing under a mossy rock.

'Yeah, tons of times,' Kenda answered, and then pointed to the left. 'There's one. Here, come on.'

Ellie closed the distance between them and leaned down beside Kenda, watching closely as she used her Swiss blade to neatly cut the leaves near the stem.

'So what are these for?' Ellie asked curiously, helping her.

'The doc uses it for healing injuries and stuff like that,' Kenda replied. 'Been running low on these lately.'

'Oh,' Ellie nodded.

'So,' Kenda looked at her once as she sat back on a nearby rock, sorting her find.

'How are things with you and Joel?'

Ellie's smile faded, as she sat back down on the forest floor, looking at Kenda. She shrugged. 'The same, I guess,' she replied.

Kenda gave her a knowing look, as she pulled a can of plums from her backpack and opened it.

'I just need time,' Ellie confessed, picking a sweetened fruit from the can as Kenda offered it to her. 'And some space . . that's all.'

'That's the last thing I said to my father,' Kenda mumbled, and Ellie looked at her incredulously.

'What happened between you two?' she asked her, and immediately felt guilty for it. She shook her head slightly, mumbling, 'I don't wanna intrude or anything . .'

'It's fine, Ellie,' Kenda brushed it away with a wave of her hand. 'It's been nearly twenty five years. I don't even remember how he looked.' She chewed a fruit, and swallowed, glancing at Ellie briefly as she said, 'Me and him just had some differences. I kept stalling my visit to him, and before I knew, somebody reported that he had died in gunfire at the Chicago QZ.'

'I'm sorry,' Ellie shook her head once. 'That must've been . . terrible.'

Kenda shrugged weakly. 'It's just like Joel says,' her voice was barely audible, like she was miles away, struggling to hold on to reality. 'Things happen, and we move on.'

Ellie's eyes followed a chameleon on the ground, moving slowly across the ferns, it's eye closing and opening. She looked back at Kenda briefly, admiring her strong facade, the indifference she showed to pain and longing.

 _'Things happen, and we move on.'_

'Do you think . .' she began, and hesitated as Kenda looked at her inquisitively. 'Well . . About Joel . .'

Ellie's fingers fidgeted with her flannel buttons as she struggled to find the right words. 'I just . . I'm so stuck between two different things,' she finally confessed, her eyes shutting briefly. 'A part of me has already forgiven him for what happened, but another part is still doubtful . . I don't even think it's my place to pass judgement on him, you know? It's just so fucked up . .'

'What's holding you back?' Kenda asked softly, and Ellie met her gaze.

She shrugged, and then shook her head, drawing a deep breath of the fresh spring air.

'I don't know,' she admitted. She remembered the meadow, a month ago, when she had found Joel and they had barely escaped a pack of clickers. She remembered the relief, the joy at seeing his face. The warm embrace.

Kenda suddenly looked up at the trees, her eyes squinting.

'What?' Ellie asked warily, her fingers immediately travelling to her pistol in her right pocket.

'Hear that?' she mumbled, leaving the can on the floor.

Ellie's heart skipped a beat as the dead silence of the spring afternoon reached her ears. A faint sound echoed from far away, feeble but still there.

A constant, rhythmic blare.

'Oh fuck!' Ellie exclaimed, as Kenda got to her feet and pulled on her backpack, her movements quick and urgent.

'Ellie,' she said, bending and holding her shoulders as she looked into her eyes. 'Just follow my lead, okay?'

'Yeah,' Ellie nodded nervously, as Kenda turned and began to sprint towards the bridge. Ellie struggled to keep up with her, leaping over brambles and stones, taking the sharp turns back to the slope.

The blaring alarm still sounded faintly, and as they reached the cliff, Ellie saw Kenda looking over the rocks.

'Oh man,' Ellie breathed, following her gaze. She saw the green bridge down below, and far ahead, a small brownish patch that was the town. The red lights on the watch towers were blinking, and the gates closing.

'It's a raid,' Kenda said, and looked at Ellie briefly as she beckoned her to follow.

Ellie's heart was racing, her thoughts jumbling to a pile of confusion. Angelica was at her house. Vera was at the stables with Johnny, but she had no idea where Joel had been. She had ignored him before leaving with Kenda in the morning.

'Come on,' Kenda breathed as she held out her hand, clutching Ellie and helping her down the edge of a rock. They ran across the bridge, and as they approached the river bank, Kenda gestured Ellie to slow down and remain quiet.

They hid under the shadow of a rock, right next to a tall pine tree. Kenda peeked out, and saw the faint trail that led to the dam. There were no footsteps or any signs on it.

'They're must've attacked the town directly,' Ellie said. 'Shit, what do we do?'

'We go around through the back gate,' Kenda said, pulling out her pistol and loading it. She handed some extra shells to Ellie.

'Where's Joel?' Ellie asked, following her as she made her way across the trail and through the thin forest.

'He was at guard duty,' Kenda mumbled, and immediately regretted saying that.

'What, at the dam?' Ellie asked, halting in her steps, her voice loud. 'Well, then we're going to the dam!'

Kenda looked back at her, her eyebrows scrunched. 'The town needs us, Ellie. Joel will be fine.'

'No!' Ellie exclaimed, cocking her pistol once as she turned back to the trail. Before Kenda could stop her, she ran across the trail and towards the dam.

'Ellie, wait!' Kenda called, glancing back at the forest. She looked at Ellie again, her small figure almost disappearing among the trees.

She cursed under her breath and followed her, calling for her to hold up.

* * *

Tommy gathered at the stables with his allies, his rifle in hand, hidden behind a pickup truck. Geoff was beside him, panting, facing the truck, peeking out through the window. He ducked just as a bullet tore through the glass and shattered it, barely saving his head.

'Fucking hell,' Geoff grumbled, looking at Tommy. 'There's too many of them.'

Gunfire raged everywhere around him, smoke rose up in the air that now reeked of sulfur. At the corner of his eyes, he could see a corpse laying in a pool of blood. He wasn't ready to know who that was.

'How many?' Tommy asked, loading his rifle, looking up once to give a nod to his allies on the rooftops of the buildings behind him.

'About thirty, forty?' Geoff panted, and shook his head. 'That's half a population of this town.'

'Dammit,' Tommy cursed under his breath. He fired a few shots from behind the truck, and then sat back again, breathing. 'These aren't bandits.'

He heard shouts from the distance, and saw a few other towns adults gathering behind trucks and fences, rifles and guns in hand. He saw Karina among them, who yelled back at him, 'They're at the front of the town too!'

'Who's guarding it?' Tommy asked, as he saw her group firing at the stables.

'Maria and the others,' she replied.

'And Joel?' Tommy asked, his heart pounding.

'He's at the dam,' Karina replied. 'We called for him and the others for help.'

'Tommy we won't make it,' Geoff said. 'We need help. There's more of them coming in!'

Tommy shut his eyes for a second, trying to push out the gunfire around him, the chaos. Then he opened them and shook his head.

'No,' he replied. 'No military. We can't risk it.'

'We'll die out here alone!' Geoff exclaimed, his eyes wide and frantic. 'We'll deal with the consequences later, we need the military!'

A scream echoed in the distance, and he saw a figure fall to the ground from a rooftop. His eyes were dead, his head soaked in crimson.

'Fuck,' Tommy grumbled, peeking out again to shoot a man across the stable, who was trying to jump over.

If he called the military, chances were that they would raid the town after protecting it from the attack. That is, if they decided to help, in the first place.

'Not yet,' Tommy said to Geoff.

Geoff took a deep breath, but nodded. He peeked out, and a bullet ran through his temple, his body turning limp and falling onto the ground, his eyes empty. A red drop trickled down his head, and his rifle fell out of his fingers.

Tommy immediately gathered the ammo and loaded his gun, ignoring the cold grip around his heart, the racing thoughts in his head, the adrenaline pumping through his veins. In the distance, across the stables, he heard a roar.

The sound of blasting engine echoed in the air, and from the corner, he saw a tank rolling in, trampling over the fence and driving across the grass, the turret pointed at him.

'Jesus Christ,' he uttered in a breath.

* * *

 **A/N: I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN TWELVE CHAPTERS FOR THIS AHH IM EXCITED. I'm getting a lot of inspiration from different things guys. After a long time I feel really good about this story. I hope you guys are having as much fun :D**

 **Review/ Follow if liked please!**


	3. Chapter Three: Strength

**CHAPTER THREE**

Strength

* * *

 **A/N: Gonna update the next three chapters immediately, because as a reader I hate cliffhangers. Hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

The alarms had stopped, and an eerie silence engulfed the air. The only thing heard were Ellie and Kenda's footsteps on the ground, their quick breaths and pants as they rushed towards the dam.

'Ellie, stop!' Kenda called, reaching out and pulling her wrist. She tugged it and pulled her down behind a bush, forcing her to her knees as she knelt.

'Quiet,' Kenda mumbled, and Ellie saw the tension in her brown eyes, the lines between her eyebrows deepening as she bent lower, and Ellie followed.

A mechanical roar sounded in the distance, and they heard a vehicle passing by. Malicious and loud voices spoke and laughed and yelled as the trucks passed by. Ellie's eyes widened in panic.

'They're going for the dam,' she mumbled. She had heard one jeep, and voices that could've been anything from ten to twenty.

'This is bad,' Kenda shook her head, shutting her eyes for a few seconds, taking a deep breath. Her throat shook as she swallowed and looked up, saw the jeeps driving away in the far distance, turning towards the dam.

She saw the vehicles stop at the fencing, reverse a few blocks, and then rage ahead to mow it down, the metal crunching and bending under the weight of the vehicle as it ran over it.

Kenda lowered again, looking at Ellie apprehensively. Her face was sullen, her eyes pleading and full of sorrow as they met Ellie's gaze.

'Don't,' Ellie mumbled, immediately sensing the fear and doubt in her eyes. She pressed her hand against hers, although her racing heartbeat betrayed her words. She gulped once, meeting her gaze strongly. 'The people need us, Kenda. We gotta find Joel and the others.'

'Yeah,' Kenda mumbled, shutting her eyes for a second and nodding hastily. She took a sharp, deep breath and gave another firm nod. 'Let's go,' she said, her fingers clutching her gun tight.

They moved ahead, sneaking behind the outhouse by the dam gate as the jeep stopped in front of it, the men getting out. All of them had guns in their hands, some of them even had helmets and vests.

One of them went ahead to push the gates, but they were locked. He pushed again, but to no avail.

'This is our chance,' Ellie whispered.

'Here,' Kenda mumbled, as she sat back against the wooden wall and pulled out two grenades from her backpack. She handed one to Ellie, but pulled it back immediately as she reached out.

'Use it wisely,' Kenda said, her eyes sharp as they warned her.

'I know,' Ellie snapped, her cheeks slightly red with anger as she took the grenade from her hands. 'I've handled grenades before. I won't fucking blow myself up.'

'That's not it,' Kenda whispered, peeking out again, saw the people trying to mow down the gate with the trucks, while three of them tried to climb over the wall.

'Don't throw it unless you're sure it'll kill atleast half of those bastards,' she gave Ellie a sharp look. Ellie nodded.

The gate eventually gave in, bending in the middle and slowly spreading open as they forced the Jeep inside. A few of them poured in on foot, and as soon as they entered, gunfire commenced. Screams echoed in the air and a small explosion shook the fencing on the corner.

Kenda took a deep, shaky breath, and gave a nod to Ellie. She turned and snuck on ahead, Ellie on her heels as she reached the wall and leaned against it.

There was a man with a rifle right on the other side of the wall. With a swift movement, Kenda dipped in, pulled him by the neck and hooked her elbow around it, pushing him into the ground. Just as he opened his mouth, Ellie slit his throat ear-to-ear with her switchblade, blood splattering on her fingers.

Kenda gave her an appreciative nod, holding her pistol up and looking out from the edge, at the gunfire raging on inside.

* * *

Joel heard the screams just as the news of the attack reached his ears. He immediately grabbed his shot gun and ran out ahead with the others, but Earl blocked him at the door.

'The fuck're you doin'?' Joel growled, the adrenaline pumping his veins as Earl shut the door, locking himself, Joel and the others inside.

'There's too gaddamn many,' Earl panted. 'Forget about the dam. They need us at the town gate. People are dyin' back there.'

'Shit,' Joel grumbled, and turned as Earl and his two allies ran across the dam and the turbines. The others looked at him apprehensively, waiting for his decision.

Joel swallowed, looking out the window, and saw a few of the attackers rushing towards the door, guns in hand. He saw one them with a helmet and a Kevlar vest. On the ground he saw the dead bodies of three familiar dam workers.

'Go, follow him,' he said immediately, stepping back and away from the door. A bang echoed from the other side. 'Now!' he rushed, and went along with them as they followed Earl.

They took the horses at the back of the dam and rode through the trails, the town in plain sight. Joel saw the chaos raging at the gate, saw guards stranded at the watch towers, the attackers sheltered behind rocks and trees below the cliff, some of them making their way inside the town. A trail of thick black smoke swirled upwards to the sky from the back of the town, close to the stables.

Joel's heart was so loud that he could barely hear anything else.

The only reassurance he had was that Kenda was with Ellie the last time he had seen them, and they were probably far away from all this mess, back in the forest.

They got down at the cliff over looking the town, each one taking cover behind trees and rocks. A few of them covered the trails behind them, waiting for the attackers that would eventually follow them from the dam. Joel stationed himself behind a huge boulder.

He pulled out his hunting rifle, looking through it's eye as the butt rested on his shoulder. He caught a head poking out of the bushes, and set his aim, pulled the trigger.

The man fell down limp.

'Keep it up, Joel,' he heard Earl commend him from behind. 'They need us down there.'

* * *

'Dammit, fall back!' Maria screamed from the watch tower. She ran downstairs, fought back an attacker that was waiting there, landing a punch on his nose and then putting a bullet through his head. She saw her allies on the streets in front of the entrance, and caught the militants jumping over the walls.

'Get in the trucks, let's go! Earl and Joel will take care of these bastards, make a move!' Maria yelled, shooting at the incoming ambush as she stepped back. She got into the truck with the others, shooting at the gates as it turned and drove back into the town.

Once they were out of reach, she fell back against the sides and looked at Houser, who was driving the truck.

'Did you evacuate the children from the houses?' she asked, leaning forward.

'Done,' Houser nodded. 'They're all at the warehouse.'

'Well who's with them?' she asked, her voice louder.

'Lainey and them others,' Houser replied. 'They're well armed, don't worry 'bout them. Think of our situation.'

'We should call the military, Maria,' Joan said. 'We can't take these fuckers by ourselves. We've already lost a lot of people.'

'Too late for that,' Maria shook her head. 'Closest military base is miles away. Even if they decide to help, we'd all be dead by the time they arrive.'

'Well, what then?' Claude asked, and all the ten-odd pair of eyes fell on her. She looked away, her eyes finding the street behind them, that seemed to be snaking out from behind the truck as they drove ahead. She saw the houses and the electric poles, the wires, the water tanks.

'We gather Tommy and the others,' Maria said, her voice shaky, but loud. She looked at all of them, her face gaunt, her eyebrows drawn together. 'And then everybody with children leaves. The rest will stay back with me and kill these fuckers.'

'That's half of us gone already,' Claude pointed out. 'We can't do shit with these odds.'

'I know,' Maria agreed. 'But I'm not giving up this town to these assholes. I'll make sure every single one of them is dead before I die.'

'That's fucking right,' Houser growled, as the truck turned at the end, making its way to the stables.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you guys liked this. I was thinking of writing another series, but with Kenda only. Like a brief outline of her life or something. Maybe if things go all fine with this ff, I'll start that one. Hopefully you guys would be interested to read it. Btw, to anybody that's wondering, she's forty-four years old.**

 **Review/Follow if you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter Four: Breathless

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Breathless

* * *

'Fucking run faster!' Vera yelled, looking back at Johnny.

He stepped into a puddle, splashing the water onto the street as he followed her, trying to keep up. His face was red, his breathing quick and shallow. He had a gun in his hand, and blood on his knuckles.

'There, let's go,' Vera whispered aloud. She heard a truck driving towards them, and she wasn't ready to find out who was in it. At the corner of her eyes, she saw flames erupting, shaking the ground, licking and consuming three houses. Smoke filled the air and embers flew around.

'Down here,' she said, opening a hatch in the ground, leading to the basement of the pawn shop. She had discovered this passage last summer with Ellie, and they snuck in thrice to steal some minor things.

Johnny jumped in, and Vera heard the ground reverberating as the truck approached. She pushed him in and stepped in, closing the hatch above her. She took a deep breath in relief, as the truck ran over the metal hatch.

'Oh fuck,' Johnny breathed. He sat down, leaning against a cabinet, pushing the gun away from his hands. It slid across the wooden floor.

Vera looked out the door of the store room across the hall. She saw two figures running in the street through the shop windows. Two figures she had never seen before, with rifles in their hands. She immediately closed the door and locked it, using a chair to barricade it. She shut the windows and pulled down the curtains.

'We should be alright,' she mumbled, panting, looking down at him.

Johnny avoided her gaze, covering his face with a hand, fondling the hair in the front of his head.

'Hey,' Vera mumbled, her voice soft. With a light hand, she touched his shoulder as she knelt in front of him.

'I'm sorry about your mother,' she mumbled, squeezing his shoulder.

She saw his features twisting, his nostrils flaring and his neck stiffening. A bright red suffused his cheeks and nose as he sobbed.

'Johnny, there's nothing you could've done,' she mumbled. Flashes from her own past plagued her mind, losing her siblings, her best friend.

'There's never anything I could've done,' he sniffled, finally bringing his hand down. 'It's all my fault.'

'It's not,' Vera shook her head slightly. 'Look, we gotta get out of here. Please, pull yourself together, Johnny.'

'No . .'

Vera said nothing, simply stroked his hair as she sat back in front of him, folding her legs.

She pulled out a spare cloth from her pocket, used it to wipe the blood from his knuckles.

A bang sounded on the front door. Johnny and Vera looked ahead immediately. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck rising, chills going down her spine.

'Oh, fuck,' she muttered, and whispered to Johnny. 'Inside the cabinet. Now.'

Another bang sounded, this time louder and more forceful. The fear was almost palpable as Vera pushed herself into the cabinet after Johnny, both of them uncomfortably pressed close to each other, a good portion of their breaths held in their chests.

The door gave way, and she could hear quick, shuffling footsteps towards the store room.

'I swear, I saw someone here. I did,' a hoarse voice spoke, and another replied, 'Look around. We can't let anybody get away.'

Footsteps got slower, lighter. Incoherent chatter reached her ears as the men continued to look around, and once in a while she heard metallic clicks of guns being loaded.

She looked at Johnny, whose face was twisted in fear. She gently closed her eyes and shook her head, pursing her lips as she did something she had never done in her life: pray.

He held her ankle tightly as they heard a man approaching them, his impatient grunts and curses reaching their ears. Her eyes were wide, sweat dripped down her forehead and temple. She held up her gun, snaking her index finger onto the trigger as she waited patiently.

Something crossed Johnny's head, and his face went pale. His features dropped and his eyes grew wide like he had seen a ghost.

'My gun,' he mouthed at Vera. Vera shook her head hastily, gesturing to him that she had realised that already.

The cabinet doors were opened, and Vera felt her muscles working on their own, her arm extending to point the barrel of the gun at the attacker's face, right between his eyes as he bent down to look at them.

Her gun positioned right by his as he held it up at her face.

The blast that followed attracted the others, and they came running.

* * *

Joel saw the last one of them scrambling from behind a watch tower, stumbling upon something on the ground. Just as he got back up, he aimed his rifle and shot a bullet right at his head. Blood splattered and he fell down dead.

'Let's go now,' he grumbled, getting up and back to the horses with Earl and the five others. 'There's a few more of them left at the stables. Let's finish this.'

They rode their horses into the town and tied them up by the granary, going the rest of the way on foot. Joel went past the dead bodies, stepping over someone's hand and cussing under his breath. Blood was everywhere, on the walls, on the ground, splattered all over the poles. Bodies littered the street, both familiar and stranger. He felt a mild nausea in his gut, a subtle spinning in his head. He swallowed it up and encouraged the others, telling them to follow him and stick to his lead.

He caught the dead body of a woman up ahead, upper half hanging out of the window. Curtains billowed and covered her face, but he still caught a glimpse of those wide, empty eyes.

'Lord save us all,' he heard someone mumble from behind him.


	5. Chapter Five: Lost

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Lost

* * *

Fires consumed streets and tore holes in the wooden rooftops. Gunfire died, but people still scrambled and ran, rifles in hand, searching for faces to kill. Trucks with injured drove through town and carried them across the forest, to the warehouse where people took refuge.

Kenda and Ellie hurried in through the front gates to meet the chaos. They had snuck up and taken care of the raiders that had appeared at the dam, still alive with minor wounds.

The first thing they saw were the corpses at the gate, the blood and the body parts. Ellie could feel her stomach twisting and turning, and immediately clutched it hard, shutting her eyes as she bent and tried to breathe.

'Hey, now,' Kenda mumbled, pulling her aside, behind a house fencing. The street seemed to be safe, the sounds of gunfire were fairly distant.

'I'm fine,' Ellie uttered. 'Just- let's get to them. Quickly.'

'Ellie-'

'I can handle myself,' Ellie interrupted her. She met Kenda's concerned gaze with a strong one. 'We'll be okay. We gotta find the others.'

Kenda hesitated for a few seconds, the distant sounds of gunfire reaching her ears in short bursts. She took a shallow breath and gave a quick nod.

'I know we got lucky at the dam,' she said to her. 'But we can't let that get to our heads. Follow my lead, alright?'

Ellie remembered the events at the dam- their narrow escape from the raging band of raiders that had almost taken over it. They had managed to get all of them, and inspite of her best instincts, Ellie know most of it was luck.

'Okay,' Ellie nodded at her, steadying herself and following Kenda as she went ahead, her rifle in hand. Ellie clenched her pistol hard, her breathing ragged as she tried to block out the red splattered over the walls, the limp body of a woman hanging from a window ahead.

'Fuck,' she muttered, stepping over a puddle of red, catching a glimpse of the dead eyes.

* * *

The hand trembled on the grass, drenched in fresh blood. His fingers shook, and he tried to move away, scurry as Joel approached him.

'You're comin' with us,' he heard his wolfish growl. He felt hands grabbing his shoulders, dragging his body away from Joel, across the ground.

Joel took a shaky breath as he watched the surviving men and women gathering themselves, the silence now too strange in his ears after all the noise. He could feel his fingers trembling around the hilt of his rifle, still see the thin line of smoke rising up from the barrel.

He hung the weapon on his back and fell to the ground, leaning against the back of the damaged turret truck as he breathed, trying to calm his twitching muscles, his blood covered fingers.

He ran a shaky hand across his beard, and felt the wetness. He saw blood trickling down from a wound on his jaw, and that's when he realised he was hurt. The traces of adrenaline coursing through his veins drained, and he became increasingly aware of all the sore muscles, the burning scars and aching bones.

He glanced across the stable ground and saw the man being dragged along by Earl and Houser, being thrown into a truck and driven away for interrogation. He saw Maria and Tommy nearby, saw her tending to his wounds, saw a red stain on her shoulder. From the corner of the street, he saw two familiar figures approach, and he took a deep, relieved breath as he spotted the red hair, the small frame.

'Joel!' Ellie cried, running across the ground toward him, ignoring the agonizing sights all around her, the broken fences and collapsed rooftops.

Kenda followed her, and he was glad to see that the two of them were alright. He got up weakly and took a sharp breath as Ellie threw her arms around him, squeezing his stomach and pushing in on a sore wound near his spleen.

'Easy, kiddo,' he uttered weakly, and held her shoulder as she pulled away.

Kenda gave him a brief hug, pulled away and moved his face lightly to the side, observing the fresh bruises and cuts. 'We gotta get you fixed up,' she said.

'I'll be fine,' he murmured, and glanced across at Tommy and Maria.

'I just hope they got everybody out in time,' he added, glancing back at Kenda and Ellie.

'Who were they?' Ellie asked, looking at the ground, at the corpses of the raiders hanging in from the fences, strewn about on the grass. She saw the damaged turret truck behind Joel, and the body that lay out from the hatch, hands hanging down to the window.

'No clue,' Joel winced, pressing a wound on his hip. 'Definitely a big group. Probably had it planned for a while.'

'God,' Kenda exhaled, her eyes scanning the grounds and the roads, taking in all the damage, all the lost lives that belonged to the town.

Ellie followed her line of sight, the same nausea in her stomach, although this time her body seemed to handle it better. Suddenly, an ice cold fear gripped her heart, squeezed it. Her breath was caught in her lungs as her face went pale, and she caught Joel's gaze, and then Kenda's.

'What?' Joel asked warily, his eyebrows scrunching.

'Vera?' she asked, and felt her fingertips going numb and tingling, felt her heart pounding loud against her chest.

'I didn't see her anywhere,' she added. 'She was at Angelica's when I was leaving, wh-where do you think she is now?'

She felt her throat going dry, her stomach twisting in fear.

Joel exchanged a concerned look with Kenda, and glanced back at Ellie, pursing his lips. 'Come on,' he muttered, making his way to Tommy and Maria, a sudden urgency in his movements.

Ellie's heartbeat grew louder with every second, to the extent that she could hear it in her ears- constant, loud. She felt blood gushing into her head and face, sweat breaking out at her forehead as Tommy shook his head at Joel, and Maria repeated the motion. She stepped away, slowly, her feet growing weak and limp as she heard Tommy speaking, saying that all the people had already been evacuated to the warehouse, but no, he hadn't seen Vera with any of them.

'I gotta find her,' Ellie uttered, and her voice was so low that only Kenda heard her. She turned just in time to find Ellie stepping away from them, turning, and then running.

'Ellie!' she called, tugging at Joel's sleeves before following her. Joel cussed under his breath.

'Send a group to look for any remaining raiders in the town,' Joel said to Tommy, stepping away, pulling out his rifle. 'They gotta be some lurking somewhere!'

He turned and followed Kenda and Ellie down the street, trying to keep up with Ellie's panicked footsteps, her frantic turns as she ran back into the town, her heart in her mouth.


	6. Chapter Six: Warning

**CHAPTER SIX**

Warning

* * *

The sky was covered in streaks of orange and grey, slowly blending into navy blue beyond the horizon. A pale moon appeared behind a cloud, and the town was engulfed in shades of the twilight.

The people were being brought back to their houses, or what was left of them. Trucks drove through the empty streets, and Joel and Kenda stepped back as one went past in front of them. They saw the forlorn faces in the back, all familiar, but bruised, hurt and red with tears. A distant building collapsed slowly, and it's roof shook as it fell in further, sending a puff of black smoke into the air, with saw dust and ashes.

'Where's Ellie?' Joel asked, continuing ahead through the narrow street, going in the direction where he had last seen her.

'There,' Kenda mumbled, and Joel looked in the direction she was pointing at. He caught a few familiar figures walking in from the left, and shortly, saw Ellie running in behind them. He made his way towards her, and overheard bits of the conversation she was having with Houser and the two other men.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Ellie's voice was loud, and her eyes held Houser's with a malicious gaze. Joel could see the panic in her demeanour, her shaky fingers, her wide, frantic eyes. 'She was in the town. If you looked harder, you could have found her. What about Johnny?'

Houser didn't even look at her. He gave her an indifferent shrug, getting back to some serious conversation with the other two men, a map in hand.

'Fucking look at me when I'm talking to you!' she exclaimed, tugging at his wrist hard. Houser looked down at her, taken aback, eyebrows scrunching together.

He saw his mouth bending into a scowl. He pointed a finger at her. 'Listen to me, kid, you touch me again-'

'Hey!' Joel barked, rushing ahead in between Ellie and Houser, an end of his mouth turned up in a growl. He pushed Houser's finger away from Ellie, and said, 'She's right, Houser. Where's the girl?'

Houser's demeanour stiffened a little after looking at Joel's glare. He cleared his throat and shook his head once, reluctantly. 'Look, Joel, I rounded up everybody I could find. It was a fucking circus. I couldn't find a few . .'

'So you just left them, is that it?' Kenda stated. Joel's eyes held Houser's in a challenging, dangerous glare.

He didn't reply, simply avoided Joel's gaze as he glanced at the houses and the street. 'I tried,' he finally uttered, looking at Joel. 'I really did.'

Ellie felt herself drowning, sinking lower and lower into black water as the worst scenes of possibilities played in her mind. She gulped, pressed her knuckles together a she took a deep breath and glanced around nervously.

She saw Kenda and Joel talking to Houser and shook her head once. She felt like everything around her was melting, and she found images flashing in her head- beautiful, blissful memories admixed with horrible possibilities. She didn't know what she needed to stress on.

Her eyes drifted behind, and caught a glimpse of the pawn shop a street away, right through an alley. A dark window shook, reflecting light for a second, and she caught a halo of yellow light flashing from the inside. She felt her heart skip a beat.

'Look,' she said, her hand reaching to tap Joel's wrist. He followed her finger and saw the pawn shop across the street.

Ellie's face went red, and she looked at Joel, and then at Kenda. Without a word, she rushed towards the pawn shop.

Kenda followed her immediately, Joel behind her as they rushed across the alley way and over a low fencing.

Kenda rushed ahead and gently placed a hand in front of Ellie's chest just as she was about to the enter the shop.

She leaned against the wall, and Ellie followed her example. Joel loaded his gun, and when he looked in through a window, he saw a flash of light moving, and then disappearing.

'Stay back,' Kenda mumbled, raising her gun in front of her as she appeared at the door, slowly opening it and stepping in.

The shop was dark, the racks and shelves toppled over, the products on the ground. The only source of light was from the streetlamp outside that gushed in through the windows.

'Stop right there.'

Kenda froze, her gun lifted towards the direction the voice had come from. She felt a chill go down her spine, as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She found a silhouette in the corner, a man, and as she squinted, she saw him clutching a familiar figure in front of him, elbow wrapped around the figure's neck.

Ellie stood beside Kenda, her gun pointed at the man.

'Ellie,' Johnny uttered, his voice weak. The man tightened his grip around Johnny's neck, his knife positioned right across his Adams apple.

'Let the kid go,' Joel ordered, stepping ahead from between the two of them, his rifle pointed at him. 'You're outnumbered. You ain't gonna make it.'

'Put your guns down, now,' the man demanded, stepping back, moving away from the shadow of a rack. Lamplight found his form, and illuminated them- the man's malicious gaze. Johnny's face was wet with tears, a drop of blood trickled down his temple.

'Put them down now or this kid is dead!' the man yelled, pressing the knife harder against Johnny's neck. Johnny uttered a faint cry, shut his eyes tight.

The man's face appeared clear in the light- ragged, rusty features and a red beard, a single grey eye. He looked at the three of them, and suddenly, his face changed. His grip still remained on the hilt of the knife, but his eyes squinted.

'Kenda,' he uttered.

She felt a jolt in her spine, and looked sideways from the aim, her fingers still tight around the gun. Joel glanced at her, his eyes wide, his mouth agape.

She gulped once, as the fact sank in and she drew in a sharp breath. She stepped closer warily, pointing her gun right at his face. Ellie gave a quick nod to Johnny, trying to comfort him, telling him that it'll be okay. He looked terrified, his hands gripped around his captor's arm, his cheeks red.

'Ed,' Kenda uttered, her voice low, indifferent. Her gun still pointed high at his head. 'The fuck happened to you?'


	7. Chapter Seven: Blackout

**A/N: I thought nobody was reading these anymore. But I read your review, anonymous reviewer. Thank you. You have no idea how good it makes me feel knowing that somebody's actually spending time on this crap that I write. I . . I . . I got a friend *holding back tears***

 **We're in this together, and I'm gonna upload further chapters for you. I love you.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER SEVEN**

Blackout

* * *

Tommy glanced at the truck that entered the gates, his hands resting on his rifle, placed on his lap. Maria was beside him, standing at the edge of the watch tower and looking down.

'How many?' she asked the driver, and he poked his head out of the open window reluctantly.

'Twelve,' he replied. She saw the distant faces in the back, waved at them as two of the children apprehensively waved back.

'Take'em in,' she nodded at the driver. The two men downstairs opened the gates, let the truck through. The street had been cleared of the corpses, although the blood still remained, dry and cracked. The vehicle made its way onto the street and turned around a corner far ahead.

Maria glanced back at Tommy.

'What's the count?' she asked him, her voice low, soft. Laced with concern and a hint of fear.

'About thirty to thirty-five,' he mumbled, looking at her from under his eyebrows once. His eyes scanned the town's roof tops to his side, saw the flickering street lamp nearby, a distant roof collapsed and a column of smoke rising up from its center.

'Ten missing,' he added, looking back at her. 'The boys are still goin' at the head count in the square.'

'Dammit,' Maria muttered under her breath. She held up her walkie-talkie, pressed the button and spoke into it, 'What's the situation there, Mike?'

A low voice spoke with a static background, 'We got all the trucks unloading here. The count's up to sixty-eight now.'

Maria shut her eyes for a second, swallowing.

'What's the order?' Mike's voice spoke again, and she gulped, looking back at Tommy.

'Let'em rest, Mike,' she said. 'Take all of them to their houses. Give them food and make sure everybody's inside within an hour.'

'Yeah, okay,' he answered on the other end. Maria put the walkie-talkie back in her pocket and sat down beside Tommy. Her eyes were fixed on nothing, her lips drawn in a straight line. She took a deep, shaky breath and leaned back, resting her head on Tommy's shoulder. He felt her breathing, steady, slow and controlled, like she was trying to control the rhythm. He wrapped a hand around her shoulder, pulling her closer as she closed her eyes.

The men shut the gates below, went back up to their watch towers solemnly. The night was dark, and clouds covered most of the stars. There were distant chatters from a nearby tower.

The one thing they couldn't shake off was the stench of ashes in the air, the faint echo of a fire being put out on the west end.

* * *

Joel looked at Kenda's expression discreetly, from above the rifle's eye. He saw her mouth pressed into a straight line, her face gaunt, the only sign of distress being her left eyebrow that twitched once in a while.

'Don't matter,' the man spat, pulling Johnny up and back, pressing the knife harder on his neck. 'Drop your guns, now.'

'We can work this out,' Kenda said, stepping forward cautiously, slowly moving her gun aside from her eyes.

'Just listen to me, and let the kid go,' she said, meeting Ed's fierce, frantic gaze with a stable, collected one. 'We won't hurt you. I'll make sure of it.'

'Like hell I'll trust you,' Ed uttered, but his face gave away his apprehension. He gulped, and two fingers loosened around the knife's hilt. Joel pressed his feet into the ground, making his stance, ready for the attack when he let his guard down.

'They will listen to me, Ed,' Kenda continued, her gun now positioned down, towards the ground, taking another step towards him discreetly. 'It's over. Your guys are all dead.'

'Don't matter,' he uttered reflexively, and Johnny let out a feeble cry.

'It can go two ways, Ed,' Kenda said, gently bending to place her gun on the ground. 'I know you. Make the wise choice, please. If you let him go, I promise we won't hurt you. Just listen to me, and it'll end well for everybody.'

He said nothing, but his fingers loosened, his grip around Johnny's neck went a little limp.

'Trust me,' Kenda said, holding his gaze unfazed. Ed glanced at Joel and Ellie, saw their barrels pointed at him, Joel's rifle scope catching a ray of light from the street lamp. It glinted in his eyes, golden.

'They won't shoot,' Kenda promised, holding out a hand in front of Ellie and Joel, keeping her gaze locked on Ed's. She fleetingly touched Joel's wrist, gently pushing it down as he responded, letting the gun down slowly. Ellie followed, her heart loud in her chest.

'He's just a kid, Ed,' Kenda added, her voice softer. 'Let him go.'

Ed saw the three of them, their relaxed hands, none of the barrels pointed at him. His fingers shook around the knife, for a second pressing it harder around Johnny's neck, his eyes glinting dangerously as he pursed his lips. Joel's hands clenched into a fist, grinding his fingers together as he glanced at Kenda. He saw her gulping, saw the nervousness in the deepening hollow between her collar bones.

'Okay,' Ed said, releasing Johnny, putting his hands in the air.

Joel released a long held breath. Ellie relaxed, stepping forward as Johnny fell to the ground. He immediately scooted over to her. She took him in, wrapping her hands around his shoulders, trying to calm him down.

Joel followed Kenda as she walked to Ed. His fingers shook as he looked at Kenda, his throat trembling as he gulped. Joel approached him, footsteps heavy as he walked past Kenda, looming over Ed as his shadow engulfed his form.

He held him up by the collar with both hands, ignoring his sudden protests and curses as he glanced towards Kenda for help. He raised a clenched fist and punched him across the face, blood sputtering across the floor. He punched him again until his voice died and his head hung down.

'Is he dead?' Kenda mumbled from behind, as Joel let his body collapse onto the floor, face down. He heaved, taking a breath as he shook his head.

'Put him out for a while,' he said, turning to her. His eyes were fierce, his voice a growl from the rush in his blood. 'Who was he?'

'We were in the same batallion, back at the QZ,' she said, looking down at his body. 'We were good friends back then. Used to keep each others backs.'

Joel shook his head lightly, looking down at his unconscious body. He glanced around, and saw a door partly open. He saw darkness inside, but caught a faint form- and he squinted.

He saw a hand, fingers lying limp on the floor. A puddle of dark red lay around the limb, and Joel felt his inner walls collapsing.

'What is it?' Kenda asked in a low voice, noticing the sudden shock and anxiety in his face.

'You're okay,' Joel heard Ellie comforting Johnny. With a gulp, Joel looked back at the two of them.

Johnny was crying, his face red as he rested his head on Ellie's shoulder. 'You're okay, Johnny,' Ellie repeated, her hand patting his head reluctantly.

'I'm sorry, Ellie, I-I-' he cried, sniffed and shook his head. 'I tried to stop them, I-I did . .'

Joel walked to the door and opened it half way, the column of pale yellow light illuminating the hand, and the blood. He saw the corpses, two raiders, and the third one all too familiar. He heard Kenda draw in a sharp breath behind him, looking over his shoulder.

'God,' she muttered under her breath, shutting her eyes as Joel closed the door on Vera's dead body.


	8. Chapter Eight: Gone

**A/N: Thanks for the support guys! I'm so glad that you like the story and where it's headed. I just hope you guys keep supporting me as I upload new chapters, it helps a lot. I love you all. Enjoy :)**

 **CHAPTER EIGHT**

Gone

* * *

Ellie pulled down the old pair of jeans from the string, throwing it in the basket. A light breeze caressed her cheeks as she worked, pulling all the dried clothes down and placing them in the basket. She felt the soft grass between her toes as she shifted to the side with each shirt she took down.

She heard a bird chirping in the distance, and froze. With reluctant eyes, she looked in the direction, and saw two sparrows leaping on a distant branch. She slowly placed the basket down and moved towards the tree, her eyes on the little birds, watching as they wiggled their heads at each other and chirped at the sky. One of them leaped away and flapped it's wings, disappearing behind the leaves. The other waited, it's head cocking in confusion. Soon it followed the first, and left.

Strands of red hair brushed her freckled cheeks as she wrapped her hands around herself, solemn.

She brought the clothes in and left the basket in the kitchen, heading to her room upstairs. It was a beautiful day, clear skies and all. She pulled on her purple hoodie and slung her bow and backpack on her shoulders. She left the room, without glancing at the empty second bed beside hers.

She rode her horse to the woods, Joel riding on his beside her. He glanced at her once in a while, talked about the day. She responded with empty words, distant smiles.

She aimed her bow at a fleeting ball of fur among the grass blades in the distance, released a long held breath and let the arrow fly.

It hit the rabbit's eye. Joel muffled her hair encouragingly, mumbling, 'Nice shot, kid.'

She returned to the dam with him, headed over to Kenda and Anne to help them out with the machines. She tied her hoodie around her waist and pulled metal chains with Kenda, lifting cans of fuel and machine shells. She welded metal doors and cleaned rifle barrels with her, responding to her questions once in a while. She was beginning to like the silence now.

While returning home, she passed by Johnny on the street, who stopped in his tracks, putting down the sack of grains he was carrying. She lifted a hand and waved, and he waved back. His forlorn, desperate eyes followed her.

'Wanna ride the horses around later?' he asked, his voice low and hopeful. She shook her head, mumbling she wasn't in the mood. She didn't look back as she walked away.

She went back home as the sky began to turn orange, ignoring the tragedy and misery that lingered everywhere around her in the town. She saw only one other person walking on the street. The houses all looked empty, some fences broken down.

She had dinner with Joel, silent as usual. She played with the pieces of meat in the stew, saw the herbs curling around. She mumbled an apology under her breath, left the bowl uneaten on the table and headed upstairs to her room.

Joel's eyes lingered on her shadow until it disappeared behind her door. He put his bowl away, resting elbows on his knees, sighing.

* * *

'Fucking assholes,' Tommy muttered under his breath, kicking the man in the face again. He coughed blood on the floor, wheezing as he looked back up at him with a swollen eye.

Joel shook his head once, his hands folded across his chest. 'He's not 'bout to tell you anythin', unless you give him a reason to,' he said.

Maria shook her head impatiently, bending forward to look into the man's eyes. 'I'm gonna ask you one more time,' she warned. The man grinned, blood dripping from his mouth. 'Why did you attack the town?'

'We heard there was girls,' he sneered. 'So we came.'

Tommy punched him from the side, watched him coughing and moaning in pain.

'Where's the other one?' Joel asked, his voice deepening.

Maria sighed, sitting back on the table. She pointed at the next door, mumbling, 'He's in there with Earl and Kenda.'

The past two weeks, the impact of the attack stayed indefinitely. Rubble of collapsed houses stayed in the streets, and people rarely came out, either mourning, or out of fear. Work became harder, and the morale in the town was dwindling quickly. Everybody felt it, every second of the day.

When he entered the other room, he found Earl seated on a chair opposite to Ed's. His hands were tied back, and the skin on his head was split open, bleeding. His gaze fell to the ground as Joel entered, standing beside Kenda.

'Anything?' he asked, glancing at her once. She shook her head, tired. 'Just some crap about not being a part of them.'

'Bullshit,' Joel grumbled, the image of Vera's corpse flashing in his head.

'All we wanna know,' Earl said aloud, dragging his chair closer to Ed's. 'Is where you fuckers came from. Tell us that, and we'll leave you in one piece.'

Ed said nothing, simply cowered.

Joel walked over to him, hands folded across his chest. 'Make this easy for everyone. The sooner the better.'

'You won't listen anyway,' Ed gruffed, avoiding looking up at him. 'I was forced to do it. I don't know anything about them .'

'Where did you get the tank?' Joel asked, bending down so he could look into his eyes. 'Hunters around the woods don't carry them around.'

Ed looked away apprehensively, but saw Kenda approaching. He looked up at her, his eyes a little wide, hopeful.

'You gotta believe me, Kenda,' he pleaded, his eyes desperate. 'I didn't even know these guys, I swear. They found me at Colorado and almost cut me. I convinced them I could help, that's it. I didn't know we were raiding towns.'

'Enough with the crap, Ed,' Kenda shook her head, tired. 'You killed our people. We don't care why . . Just tell us what we need to know, please.'

'I don't know shit! I just escaped from Chicago and from Gene. I just wanted to get out of there! You know how he is! And these fuckers found me!'

Ed began to plead louder, until Joel felt his blood boiling and landed a fist across his face. He coughed blood onto the floor, panting between sobs.

'Fucker,' Joel grumbled under his breath, and slowly turned around. 'You know what the hell he's ramblin' about?'

Kenda wasn't listening. He saw her eyes wide, her face losing its colour like her blood had been drained. Her fingers were separate, palms open like she was caught in the headlights of a car. He saw her gulping once, and finally letting out a breath she had been holding.

'What?' he asked, stepping towards her, his voice low. 'What's wrong?'

Kenda gathered herself, finally looking up to meet his eye. He saw the chaos in them, the disturbance, and before he could ask her about it, she masked it and looked away. 'Nothing,' she mumbled, her voice slightly shaky. 'I'm okay.'

'I didn't kill the girl . .' Ed sobbed. 'I didn't. I tried to stop him, but it was too late . .'

'Shut your mouth,' Earl warned.

Joel could feel a tremor run up his spine, images flashed in his head. Ellie and Vera together, all the time. When they were standing by a lamplight on New year's night, smiling at each other. Fingers touching.

'I swear . . I didn't . .'

He felt his fist curling, clenching, and it flew to meet his jaw again, and again and again. It went harder each time, for everytime he saw Ellie's distant eyes, everytime he saw her sniffling in her bed. Every day in the past two weeks since Vera's death. He could feel blood splattering on his knuckles, and didn't stop.

Kenda held his shoulders firmly, pulling him back. He hit him again, felt something crack under his fist.

'You're killing him . .' he heard her voice, low and patient.

Joel took a deep breath, his fist stopping midway. He saw Ed's face covered in blood, sticky fluid dripping down his nose and jaw. Eyes swollen purple.

He felt her reassuring fingers on his shoulders, and stepped back slowly, drawing deep breaths, chest heaving. He could feel his elbow in slight disagreement, nagging him after the sudden rush of energy.

He took the bottle that she handed him, leaning against a table as he drank. She stood beside him, and he could still see her form shaken, fingers apart in nervousness, eyebrows drawn apart in concern.

A faint sob reached his ears.

'I swear . .'

He shut his eyes, grinding his teeth as he controlled the urge again. He felt Kenda's hand stroking his arm, whispering to let it go.


	9. Chapter Nine: Fume

**CHAPTER NINE**

Fume

* * *

Kenda looked at the picture, saw the burnt out edges rolled in. She saw her younger self, and the very familiar arm that was wrapped around her shoulder. The body and face that arm belonged to had been long torn from the picture, in a vain attempt to cut off the memories. They still haunted her, especially louder and ruthless since the interrogation.

She stuffed it back in her pocket and walked to the store room. It was dark, and she could see the night sky from the windows. She saw the tower, saw a familiar form standing on it, rifle in hand, guarding. She had entered the dam after consulting Damon, but other than him, nobody knew that she was there.

She saw Ed's limp body on the chair, head hanging down as his hands stay tied behind. He was at the edge of his life, and wouldn't last for more than two days.

'Get up,' she said, slapping his shoulder firmly. He grunted, coughed and shook his head slowly. A swollen eye turned up to look at her, and he took a deep breath, the sounds of which were grainy, like his lungs were scarping against walls as he inhaled.

'What did you mean, earlier?' she asked, bending down to her knees, looking into his eyes.

He blinked, and she saw a red spot under his eyelids, blood seeping in as the question registered in his head painfully slow.

'What?' he uttered, his voice hoarse. The absolute silence from outside forced her to talk in low tones, for the fear of being heard by anybody outside the windows.

'You said you had to escape-' she stopped abruptly, taking in a sharp breath. She closed her eyes for a second, bringing herself to say his name. Say it after all these years.

'You said you had escape from Gene,' she finished, and she felt a part of her already betrayed as she spoke it.

'Yeah,' Ed said plainly, visibly confused.

Kenda felt the anger climbing up her spine, but she held it back, taking a few seconds to absorb it. Then she looked at him again, brown eyes boring into grey ones.

'He's dead,' she simply said. 'It's been fifteen years. He's dead.'

'No,' he coughed and shook his head. 'No, no . . He ordered us to . . join them . . I escaped . .'

He fell into a fit of coughs, spurting blood. Kenda pulled out her bottle impatiently and poured some in his mouth, closing his broken jaw as he gulped it.

'They said he was dead,' she repeated. She could feel emotions flooding in, engulfing her soul. Twisting it and moulding it, raging a war inside her head. 'I was in the QZ for two years. I would've known if he was alive.'

Ed shook his head weakly. 'Not QZ,' he replied, his voice hoarse. 'He moved, ran . . We helped . . Over at . . Lafayette . .'

She shook her head slowly at first, then in denial. 'What's he doing now?'

'Ordered us to join . . Made packs . .'

'What packs?' she questioned, her eyebrows drawing in confusion and pain. 'Hunters? Is he with the hunters now?'

'Ordered to join . . I escaped . .' he mumbled. 'Couldn't take it anymore . .'

She sighed and got up, knowing full well that he was out of reach now. He kept blabbering, and eventually broke into soft sobs.

Kenda pursed her lips, pulling out her revolver from the back of her pants. She didn't care now, if anybody heard. She pressed the gun to his forehead, her fingers firm, but her voice weak as he looked at her, pleadingly.

'You shouldn't have come here, Ed,' she mumbled. She saw subtle relief in his eyes, an end of his lips slightly turning up as he realised that it was finally over. The pain would be gone.

She pulled the trigger, and the sound echoed to the outside, into the empty turbines and the railing.

* * *

Ellie climbed onto her horse and rode through the forest, ignoring the familiar voice from behind her, calling to come back soon. She needed to escape the gloom of the town, the tragedy that everybody seemed to be wrapped in. That she herself was wrapped in.

She took the long way round, going around the dam and reaching the hillside trails. She had her Walkman on, playing the blues as she gently stroked Pony's neck. She saw the lush green pines, gently swaying to the breeze, and inhaled deeply. She waited until they were down the trail and back into the forest, and pulled out her bow and arrow. Marvin Gaye's hushed voice echoed in her ears as she scanned the terrain for anything moving.

The day was odd- breeze blew gently, and yet shook only the edges of trees. Everything seemed to be asleep. No squirrels scurried on the barks, no rabbits leaped. With slight disappointment, she trotted forward through the forest, and kept riding. The sun was high up, hidden behind layers of clouds.

She clicked her tongue and slapped the reins, sending her horse into a canter. Soon, she was leaping, racing through the forest. The wind hit her skin and stung her eyes, but she went faster. With every leap across a fallen log, she felt something rising up in her, like nausea. But instead of pressing at her throat, it made her eyes sting and her chest hurt. Anger built up inside her, stacking like a tower.

She didn't care how far she was going away, if she could find her way back or not. She kept riding, past unfamiliar glades and stranger woods. She rode until the horse neighed, lifted it's front legs up and stopped reluctantly. Ellie slipped off, sliding down due to the absence of a saddle.

'What the fuck?' she snapped, annoyed. She slowly stood up from the muddy ground, with the help of her hands. She wiped her eyes on her coat sleeves, and without the blur of tears, she could see that they had come upon a cliff. A few feet under, she saw a lake, stretching for a few miles in front of her eyes.

She got down from the horse, sniffling and wiping away the last of the tears. She pulled away her Walkman, and the music faded. The eerie silence lingered in the air like calm before a storm.

'Come on,' she gently patted the nervous beast as she climbed back onto him, sending him trotting in a new direction, going around and below the cliff. She rode round the lake until she reached the other side. Among the overgrown trees and bushes, she caught a glimpse of a cabin resort faraway, under a canopy of oaks and pines.

She got off the horse, tied it to a tree faraway, behind a boulder. A part of her was internally slapping her for this stupidity, but another part of her was encouraging. She shut out both the voices, and went across, all the way to the walls of the resort. It was three stories high, stretched along for a good ten blocks. The ceiling was covered with creepers and moss.

She closed her eyes, and gently pressed her ear against the wooden door, listening. She took a deep, long breath, shutting out the chaotic pain in her heart. Shutting out the image of the dead body, empty eyes that had been haunting every second of her days and nights. Shutting out the emptiness that seemed to linger around her all the time, like a person was missing.

It was faint, but she heard huffing, and distant, raucous breathing. As she heard closer, more voices joined in, breathing, clicking and moaning in the tell-tale way of the infected.

She stepped away, and turned to look at her horse. It was standing there, shaking it's tail. She gulped, looked back at the door. Her hand reached out, pulling the sleeve on her right arm back, tracing the bite mark. Feeling the ragged, scarred skin, the constrained, deadly parasite that lingered inside her, dormant.

She held her breath, opened the door and stepped into the dark, dank resort, loading her pistol.

She shut the door behind her.


	10. Chapter Ten: Revival

**A/N: Thanks for the support guys, really appreciate it! It motivates me to keep writing and uploading regularly as I do. Love you all!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER TEN**

Revival

Joel watched from his post on the tower, as Ellie rode away into the forest. He didn't trust her going alone anywhere, but she wouldn't let him accompany her. He glanced down at the gate, saw Earl and Mike waiting on their horses. After he saw that Ellie was a safe distance away from the dam, he gave them the signal, a nod. They acknowledged him with the same, slapped their reins and rode out into the forest, following her tracks.

He sighed, and relieved himself of his post, walking into the dam. He joined Tommy and Kenda, to deal with the problem at hand.

He saw Kenda leaning onto the table, saw the disturbance in her face as she cleaned her rifle.

'Did you get rid of the body?' he asked, glancing at the two of them.

'Yeah,' Tommy gave a nod, glancing at Kenda.

'Threw it into the river,' Kenda mumbled, putting the gun and the cloth down, resting her elbows on the table.

Joel looked at her for a while, concerned. She had told him in the morning, about what she had done last night. He had simply embraced her, quietly bothered about it. He knew it was none of his business, but could tell that something was bugging her.

He knew how how it was to lose friends and family, he knew it better than anybody else. He decided that it was better to leave her to her own emotions.

'So what now?' he asked in a low voice, soft, keeping in mind the toll last night's incident was probably having on her.

'We still got the other guy,' Kenda said, looking at the two of them. 'Pretty sure he knows more than Ed.'

'He ain't tellin' us shit,' Tommy scoffed, shaking his head. 'He's gonna get beat up and die before we know anythin',' he glanced at Joel, with a subtle accusation.

'They were just raiders,' Joel said. 'Now they're all dead . . let's hope that's all there is to it.'

'Yeah,' Tommy mumbled. 'Let's hope that no more of those fuckers come along.'

The three of them sat in silence for a while, with Kenda finally breaking the silence, a bemused smile on her face. 'We should make our own militia, that would keep them away.'

Tommy grinned at her statement, Joel smiled wryly.

Around the time for lunch, Joel headed up the watch tower with Kenda again, looking at the vast expanse of the forest in front of him. There was still no sign of Ellie, nor of Earl and Mike. His head was already raging, assuming the worst. He took a deep breath, calming himself, suppressing his loud paternal instincts.

'Been two hours now,' he exhaled, glancing at Kenda once.

'Earl's got her,' she said. 'You can't be around her always. She'll be okay.'

'Hmm,' he mumbled absent-mindedly, the soft breeze shaking the hair on his forehead. He saw the mountains far away, the tails of the river stretched out beyond the cover of pines under them. The green bridge poked out of the forest nearby.

'Let's go,' he said, going back down with her.

They rode their horses to the warehouse, where one of the residents, Emily, had assumed control and turned into a make-shift bar for the dam workers. Her husband and brother looked after the smaller pub back in town.

They thanked her as she placed two mugs of beer on their crates.

Joel sipped his drink, noticing Kenda's silence, her furrowed forehead as she looked at the table in worry.

'You're hidin' somethin',' he said.

She shook her head at him. 'It's nothing,' she said, her tone firm like it was a statement. She looked at him, and added apprehensively, 'He saved my life once, eighteen years ago. Shot a straggler.'

Joel felt a familiar pinch at the mention of the word, reminding him of the bitter fact that she used be military.

She shook her head, 'Sorry,' she said. 'Old habits. Just used to the words . .'

He brushed it off with a wave of his hand. 'Don't worry 'bout it. And, uh,' he looked into her eyes, and said, 'It wasn't your fault, that he joined them raiders. If it was the other way round, he woulda done the same thing.'

'Yeah,' she mumbled. Her gaze lingered on his for a while, before she broke it off awkwardly. In that moment, Joel knew that she was hiding something else, something bigger. He raised his eyebrows at her, slightly leaning forward as he urged her.

She looked back at him, saw him waiting patiently, listening. She shook her head, mumbled, 'Not now.'

He gave a light shrug and a faint nod, understanding.

* * *

Maria watched as Jen arrived, trotting her horse into the front gates. She walked down and received her, accompanying her into the town on foot as they talked.

'How did it go?' Maria asked, and Jen shook her head lightly, tired.

'The same,' she answered. 'I went all the way to the military base. This time, there was barely anybody there. There were two men and one woman, and they didn't even let me in for a while.'

'Well, what did they say about the supply trade?' she asked, her brows furrowed.

'Nada,' Jen sighed. 'Said they didn't trust produce from some "rinky-dink town in the middle of nowhere". Exact words.'

'Fuck's sake,' Maria muttered, as they reached the entrance of the town. She nodded at the guards as they walked in through the gates. She felt the sight tugging her heart strings, saw the street empty, one lonely child playing by himself in front of a house. She saw a collapsed ceiling on the left, and pile of rubble that had been cleared off the street on the right. The gloom and misery of their recent loss was visible everywhere she looked.

They made their way to the town square, where Tommy sat with Houser and Karina.

'How'd it go?' Tommy asked, and Jen explained.

He shook his head in dismay. 'We need more gear. Just gotta make'em believe our stuff is good.'

After the town raid, Tommy was convinced that electrified fencing and man power wouldn't be enough to keep it safe. If people like that were beginning to target the town, they needed some heavy machinery. Maybe a tank or two, and turrets.

'What else did they say?' Houser leaned in. 'Any conditions? Any deals?'

'Nothing,' Jen shrugged. Her dark skin was gleaming in the dim lights of the pub, strands of bushy hair poking out from her crew cut. 'Said we needed to make an appeal to the central authorities of Fedra. May take months. Said there'll be a delay because they're busy with some Firefly problem out west.'

Tommy looked up, eyes wide for a second. He cleared his throat, immediately masking his concern. He exchanged a hushed panic with Maria, as the two of them waited for Jen to continue.

'Yeah,' she said, ignoring the sudden tension in their faces. 'Said they had some raid going on in Phoenix. That they were losing the city to the Fireflies.'

'So they got a new leader,' Maria mumbled. 'After Marlene, they must've been shook.'

'Don't know,' Jen confessed. 'Didnt say anything about a leader. Just mentioned this. And said they wouldn't be trading any goods for a while, until the problem has cleared.'

A silence took over them, and Tommy could hear the emptiness from the pub, so uncharacteristic of the place. Usually, it was filled with chatter and activity, but since the attack, nobody found much time, or energy for mirth.

'Still can't believe the broad died at the hands of the military,' Houser mumbled to himself. 'Thought she was more than that.'

'Yeah, tell me 'bout it,' Jen shook her head, taking a sip of whisky. 'Before coming to Jackson, I actually thought of joining them. Thought Marlene was cool back then. But I guess not . .'

Tommy looked at Maria, who shared his concern. He felt her squeezing his hand under the table, reassuring.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Emptiness

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Emptiness

Blood dripped from her cheeks, in thick, vile drops that fell to the ground. She was panting, breathing, trying to regain her calm.

She stepped over a dead clicker, shoe falling in the puddle of red. She could feel a sick satisfaction in her muscles, disguised as soreness from the sudden burst of energy. She walked over another dead runner, and another, and another.

All the way until she reached the door again, and opened it, walking out into the soft evening breeze. Her trembling fingers dropped the pistol and machete to the ground, and it clattered on the wood. With a shaky breath, she fell, seated on the stairs, eyes drifting to the branches and sky above.

She walked to the lake, heard her horse neighing and shifting nervously as she passed by, perturbed by her state.

She washed the coat, getting rid of the blood, and then her cheeks and hands. The infected fluids and body parts flew away in the water, and she sat there, watching the waves. Then she took off her clothes, until she was in nothing but her panty and undershirt, and slowly waded into the lake. She remembered last Summer, when Joel had taught her swimming, helping her find her instincts with patience and care that she had never seen in anybody before.

She let her body float, face turned to the sky.

Words came to her ears, from a far off distance, from months ago- from a departed friend.

 _'Henry tells me that they've moved on. That they're with their families now. Do you believe that?'_

She lifted a finger to the sky, tracing a shapeless cloud as it drifted by.

'I go back and forth,' she mumbled.

For once, gathering a bit of courage that she had left, she allowed herself to imagine- what it would've been like to have Riley with her now. Or Vera. At this very moment, floating right beside her.

She saw the scar on her hand, and anger took over her again. She felt it not just towards the infected anymore, but towards everything. The hunters. The military and their preparatory schools. The Fireflies and Marlene. The fallen government, the lost chances, the departed, innocent lives.

She felt it towards the whole world, the entire, wretched world that had taken precious things from her, that had dangled happiness in front of her, like candy to a starving child, and then snatched it away just as she reached. The people in it, that fought and died and killed for hopeless reasons.

The world wasn't terrible because of the Infected. Terror was a part of this world, and no matter what anybody did or didn't do, they could never erase it. It would chase and hunt down everything in its path and out of its path, because that's how things were.

Ellie gently closed her eyes, letting the moment of epiphany engulf her, swallow her whole and digest her down. She felt it running through all her veins, like adrenaline. She felt it gushing in and filling her, reforming her mind. When she opened her eyes, she could feel the realisation in front of her, staring her down like it was a person.

* * *

She dressed herself in some dry clothes she found inside the cabin. Her horse neighed and shook his head excitedly as she approached him with a fruit. Sounds of twigs breaking and shuffling reached her ears, and she turned around immediately, bow and arrow drawn.

She saw Earl and Mike riding towards her on their horses, and relaxed.

'Thank goodness,' she heard Mike exhale as they approached her. 'Thought we lost you, kid. It's not good to run off like that, you know?'

'Why are you here?' she asked, her eyebrows drawn together, and they could tell from her face, something was different. Something had changed.

'We was doin' the perimeter,' Earl explained. 'Caught you drifting far from the bridge, so we thought you were trynna run away or somethin',' he lied.

He registered her glare, her disbelief at his white lie. She shook her head, like they weren't worth her time, and got back onto her horse, feeding it an apple. Without a word, she slapped the reins and rode away in the same direction she had come from.

'Eh, she'll be alright,' Earl shrugged at Mike. 'She's no ordinary kid.'

'Like father, like daughter,' Mike mumbled in agreement.

'Well,' Earl grunted, getting off of his horse. 'You think she found somethin' in there?'

He grinned and walked to the door, Mike asking him to hurry up.

He reached out and found it unlocked, and opened it casually. A waft of rotting flesh and organic waste hit him, and he winced, finding the corpses of ten-odd runners and clickers, spread out on the floor, the walls and furniture covered in blood.

His voice got stuck in his throat.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Warmth

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Warmth

When Ellie finally returned, the sky was orange and grey. Joel was waiting at the dam, standing at the back gate, hands folded across his chest as he saw her approaching. He was pissed, and she could see this from a mile away.

She got off of her horse, walked along side it as she looked at Joel, ready for anything he had to say to her.

To her surprise, he looked at her, and sighed deeply, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the anger was gone. There was relief, and concern.

'For Christ's sake, kid,' he mumbled in a gentle voice, pulling her close in an embrace, a hand around her head.

Ellie absorbed the warmth, took a deep breath of his scent, of home.

'You okay?' he asked, as he pulled away, holding her at arm's length. She had no scars, no bruises. But something looked different in her face, Joel couldn't put his finger on it.

'Yeah,' she nodded, as he muffled her hair.

He scanned her face for a while, incredulously. His radar was off, he could tell that something in her had changed.

'I'm fine, really,' she said. 'I'm starving.'

He smiled, feeling a little lighter. 'Good,' he nodded. 'Kenda's over, makin' some pork stew. Reckon you'd like that.'

'Hell yeah,' she smiled weakly, walking back with him. Joel's eyes lingered on her as she walked past and ahead, and his smile faded.

They got home, and three of them had dinner together. Ellie looked bothered, but ate her fill, which made Joel feel a little better. She bid them goodnight as she left for upstairs, disappeared into her room.

'She seems distant,' Kenda said, taking a spoonful of the stew into her mouth.

'Yeah, I know,' Joel mumbled, defeated.

Kenda put her bowl down, shaking her head once. 'I don't blame her,' she added, her voice low, her words deep. 'After Vera . . God, they were inseparable . .'

Joel glanced upstairs again, at her closed door, felt himself reaching out to it, walking in and embracing her like he could shield her from all that pain.

'For a kid her age,' he mumbled, 'I don't even know where to begin with that sorta thing.'

His eyes lingered on the door. He snapped out of it, and finished his dinner. Kenda took the bowls over to the kitchen, and returned to the table shortly.

'Not such bad stew, now, was it?' she said, as she passed by, walking to get a glass of water.

Joel smiled wryly, looking at her as she walked over. 'You got the salt in this time. Good job, ma'am.'

'Actually proud of that,' she mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

'Uh-huh. Last time was . .'

'Yeah, I know, Joel.'

' . . Was pretty bad . .'

'I get it.'

He said nothing for a few seconds. He let out a low whistle and tapped his fingers on the table as she drank water. 'Salt's important,' he mumbled, and she laughed, joined midway by his quiet grin.

'Alright, then,' Kenda got up. 'I'll take my leave.'

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder once, and turned to leave for the door. Joel cursed under his breath and held her hand, just as she was about to walk away.

Kenda paused, the mirth of the past moment disappearing, giving way to the weight of reality that seemed to fall in abruptly. He didn't look at her, his eyes were on the table in the front. But his hand held hers firmly, stubbornly.

She felt her own worries rising up, conquering her mind and her heart as she stepped towards him, lingered.

'Should I stay back?' she asked, her voice soft, feeling his fingers against hers on his shoulder.

He was quiet for a moment, eyes still on the table. 'If you can,' he finally mumbled.

She nodded.

It was the first time in these eight months, that he asked her for something so personal. She could see that he was tired, battered down and low. The closeness of their relationship was beginning to scare her, bring in irrational fears of loss and departure. And she knew that the very same demons bothered him too.

She gulped it all down, and mumbled, 'Okay.'

Joel checked on Ellie, opening her door slightly to see her wrapped up in sheets. The bed beside hers was cold, empty. He walked to her and sat down by her on the bed.

'Hey kiddo,' he whispered to the air. Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted as she breathed in a slow, steady rhythm.

'You want me to sleep in?' he attempted, unsure of whether she was awake or asleep.

Her lips moved, and she swallowed, pulling the covers over her shoulders.

'I'm good,' she uttered in a soft breath.

'Alright,' he nodded. With a gentle finger, he pushed a strand of red hair behind her ear. 'Goodnight, baby girl,' he whispered, and left the room.

He gazed at her form for a few seconds, sighing deeply. A year ago, she would've wanted him to sleep with her, keep her company. Anything that bothered her, her first move was to sneak into his bed and share his warmth. He lingered, remembering from a long time ago- recalling how quickly they grew up, grew distant. He gently closed the door and headed for his room, solemn.

He slept with Kenda in his bed, the two of them too tired for anything, barely looking for bodily presence. He held her close as she slept, and felt the fear and dread rising up in him, mixed with warmth and love, in the strange way his hard life had forced him to feel.

* * *

In the following weeks, word spread across the dam. At first, it was a mere spark, spoken in hushed tones within the dam. Joel heard it immediately, directly from Mike who had some sense of loyalty. The words that spread from Earl's mouth were different, and quickly reached many more ears before reaching Joel's.

'Joel's kid, she went looking for infected.'

'You kidding me. Why the fuck would anybody do that?'

'Exactly my point. Heard it from Earl. Said he found about thirty runners and clickers dead where she went two weeks ago.'

'How was she not afraid?'

'Don't know. Apparently she slayed them all like fuckin' ducks. Tell me another kid who you ever heard of doin' somethin' like that.'

'Not even a soldier. Damn.'

Joel felt his blood boiling everytime he heard something like that. Everytime he passed by and found someone talking in sudden hushed voices, speaking about Ellie like she was a monster.

He didn't ask her about her rampage of killing infected. He knew fits of rage like that too well, and didn't want to disturb her inner most thoughts by prodding at them.

Tommy brushed it off when he heard of it. 'Shit's made up,' he shrugged. 'She probably ran into them and killed a few. You know how Earl is. Give him a water gun and he'll call it a tank.'

Even after Maria and Tommy brushing it away, people still talked, some in admiration, some in fear, but all of them mindful. Soon enough, it spread to the town too. Ellie became even more of a stranger among them, and avoided going into town altogether, except for when she was with any of her trusted.

He saw her now, working with Maria at the wall, helping her build up a fence. Tommy joined Joel, and watched the men and women working down there.

'We need more security, Joel,' he said, hands folded across his chest. 'Sent in Jen two weeks ago to talk to the military base for a supply trade.'

'Well, what happened?'

'They denied,' he shrugged. Took a deep breath, and then glanced at him pensively. 'Said they were busy with some Firefly problem in Phoenix.'

Joel said nothing, but Tommy saw his fists clenching, his jaw tightening. His lips pressing in straight line, a vein throbbing in his neck.

'How bad?' he asked, his voice low, rumbling.

'Don't know,' Tommy accepted, gazing at him with a raised eyebrow, concerned. 'Wouldn't beat myself up over it. Sure the military will hand their asses to them.'

Joel said nothing, but Tommy could almost recite word to word what was going on in his head.

'Hey, how 'bout you go with Jen and Kenda this time?' he suggested in a low voice. Joel glanced at him questioningly. 'To negotiate the supply trade. Just drive 'em there. They'll take care of the rest.'

'Gonna take Ellie along,' he said, and Tommy nodded.

'Hopefully this time they'll see some light,' Tommy mumbled. 'Kenda's good with the military. Knows how they work. She could get it done.'

'Yeah,' Joel replied, absent-mindedly. His eyes were stuck on Ellie, watching her talk to Maria, learning how to weld metal as she showed her. He saw her laughing.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Demons

**A/N: Gonna try posting the next chapters asap. Meanwhile I'd like to know what you guys think of the story so far. So I've decided that I'm gonna end it soon, because if I keep writing it looks like it'll never reach its end. Maybe I'll end it in another ten chapters, and if it's received well, I'll continue the story as part III. Ugh, I love Joel and Ellie so much. Enjoy, and leave a review of you liked :)**

* * *

 **CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Demons

Jen sat beside him, and he glanced at her once speculatively as he drove. Ellie and Kenda were at the back, and he could hear them talking, something about self-defence. He glanced in the rear view, and saw Kenda holding Ellie's wrist, slowly twisting it back halfway and explaining to her that it was a pressure lock. Ellie nodded earnestly, and imitated it on Kenda's hand.

'When you do it though,' Kenda explained, 'You gotta be quick.'

'Okay,' Ellie nodded. 'How do you know all this?'

Kenda didn't answer to that, but continued teaching her other holds and locks.

He looked back at the empty road ahead of him, the trees and rocks on either sides of the highway.

'How far is this place?' Joel asked, and Jen pointed ahead weakly.

'Just two miles or so from here. We're almost there,' she answered. He glanced at her once, and then looked back to the road. Something about her was peculiar, he couldn't tell what. She gave him the same vibes as Bill, but he knew from experience that she wasn't afraid of people like Bill was.

In a while, he had to stop the car because of rubble and collapsed trees that blocked it.

'This is good,' Jen grunted, as she took off her seat belt and opened the door. 'We gotta walk from here, no way round. Come on, move.'

Joel glanced back at Kenda questioningly, who simply shrugged and followed with Ellie. They got off the car and Joel parked it under a tree.

He stood in front of the low mountain of rubble and wood, hands on his hips.

He gruffed impatiently, muttered under his breath, 'Too old for this crap.' He could already feel his knees complaining, nagging him like they would whenever he used them to extremes.

He felt a hard slap on his butt, and jerked, saw Jen walking by with a teasing smile. 'Come on, old man.'

He watched, feeling slightly violated as she climbed up the rubble like a spider monkey. Ellie giggled and walked by him, imitating her by slapping him on the butt. He stepped towards her threateningly, and she scurried away before he could reach her, laughing. He felt a light hand on his shoulder, and saw Kenda, her bemused grin as she patted him lightly on the back.

'Let's go, big guy,' she mumbled, walking ahead, following Ellie on the pile. He sighed, already tired of what he was forced to stick with for the next few hours. Then he climbed the pile, carefully with Kenda's help.

The military base was just an old cement building, grey and worn out. Fencing sat around it, leaving a small space for training grounds. It immediately reminded Ellie of her Military schools, and she felt a wave of nostalgia hitting her as they approached the gate. A soldier waited on the other end, assault rifle in hand, black shades on his nose.

'Oh, you again,' he said, looking at Jen. 'You just don't quit, do you?'

'Not until we seal the deal,' Jen shrugged, as he slowly opened the gate, let her in. He held out a hand before Joel and the others as they entered, blocking their way.

'They're with me, it's alright,' Jen said. He looked at Joel, and felt his glare right through his shades. He patted him down, then Ellie and Kenda, and convinced that they had no weapons, he let them in.

'Is it really okay?' Joel heard Ellie asking in hushed tones, as they were led into the dark, dirty building. 'We have nothing to defend ourselves. What if they attack us?'

'No, we'll be alright,' Joel nodded at her. 'Tommy said there were three of four soldiers in here. We should be okay.'

Ellie mumbled under her breath, ' Yeah, three of four with assault rifles.'

Joel felt the sense in her words, but pushed away the ambiguity. Jen had come to this place alone and made it back several times with no harm. He imagined that they would be okay. Kenda walked ahead of them, speaking to the soldier as he lead them into what looked like an office.

The room was big, but grey and dirty. An old desk sat in the middle, behind which a middle-aged woman leaned in a chair, watching them enter the room one by one. A window on one wall illuminated the room, with sunlight gushing in.

'Sit down,' the woman soldier said, and Kenda and Jen took the empty seats in front of her. Joel and Ellie waited at the back, leaning against the wall. Ellie fidgeted with her switchblade, earning suspicious looks from the two guards that stood at the door.

'Now I've told you before,' The lady soldier continued, looking at Kenda and Jen. 'We are short on weapons and ammo ourselves. Negotiation isn't gonna help y'all.'

'We can supply food to your base,' Kenda said. 'I know how things work on the countryside for the military. You barely get enough food to keep you going. This trade doesn't have to be official. We got a lot of food where we come from. We could trade it for whatever you think worthy.'

'We get enough food, lady,' The woman said, leaning forward, taking Kenda in with an interest. 'What did you say your name was, again?'

'Kenda,' she replied, and Joel saw the lady soldier's face changing in interest and curiosity.

'You're Gene's kid, aren't ya?' she asked. Joel looked up, his senses heightened, every fiber of his being now listening to their conversation. He remembered Kenda telling him about her father, who was once the Commander of Chicago QZ, and had died in gunfire years back. But that's all she had said.

Kenda looked uncomfortable for a second, but finally confessed with a nod.

'I remember seeing you, seventeen years ago,' the woman continued. 'Was posted at Chicago for a few months. Damn, you've grown.'

'Yeah,' Kenda replied tersely.

'Well, you must've heard of your daddy's resurrection, then,' she went on, leaning back into her chair. Ellie was watching them with interest, and at this, she glanced at Joel questioningly.

Kenda said nothing.

'That's not the point,' Jen intervened, saving Kenda from her uncomfortable situation, watching her clench her fists under the table.

'I heard, yes,' Kenda finally answered. The woman nodded.

'Tell you the truth, was glad when I found out he was alive,' she continued, looking at Kenda like an old memory was being surfaced. 'He's a strong man. He's . . Well, he's somethin' else. He know you're here?'

Joel felt a pang in his chest, old habits getting the better of him. Demons found him, began pumping his mind with distrust. He knew it was none of his business, Kenda probably hadn't told him about her father because she wasn't comfortable. But he still felt the fact nagging him.

'Yeah,' Kenda lied immediately. 'I'm sorry, but we're not here to discuss these problems. I think we're giving you a damn good deal.'

The woman regained her composure, listening to Kenda intently as she continued, slightly amused. Joel could feel an old wound opening up inside him, listening to Kenda talk to them with so much familiarity. He knew it was irrational, but his hate towards the military was seeping in for no reason. He couldn't imagine Kenda with the military suits and tanks, mowing down innocent people as they waited to get into a city for safety. He cleared his throat and shook his head, trying to suppress that part of his mind, he knew it would do more harm than good.

'You might make it through Summer. But what about December?' Kenda said, catching the attention of the guards who were standing at the door, whose heads perked at the conversation.

'Last year, I heard the base was abandoned through winter,' she continued. 'We can help you when that time comes again. Get you food, water and clothes. All we need is a constant supply of arms and security. This can be settled right here, without going to the authorities.'

The woman glanced behind her at the guards. One of the men had his hands folded across his chest, and looked impressed by the deal. He shrugged at the woman, mumbled, 'We could use some more food, Claire.'

She looked at Kenda and Jen again, and said, 'Come back next week, with some rations enough for seven stomachs. Three machine guns with ammo, in return.'

Jen began to protest, leaning forward in the seat, but Kenda stopped her with a gesture of a hand.

'Sounds good for starters,' Kenda nodded at her once. Joel watched as they got up and shook hands.

The guards behind the woman nodded as she acknowledged them, and they returned. Joel glanced at the soldiers once, and made his way back, following Kenda and Jen.

'Man,' Ellie mumbled beside him. 'So that's how you make deals with the military, huh?'

'Yeah,' Jen shrugged, glancing back at Ellie.

'Gotta have someone on the inside,' Joel said aloud. Kenda stopped midway at the door. He saw her hands curling into fists, her chest rising and falling once as she turned back to look at him. Her eyes were cold, accusing.

' _What_ did you just say?' she uttered, her voice low, deep. Laced with hurt and anger.

Joel held her malicious gaze for a few seconds, with the same intensity. Ellie stepped back, looking between the two of them, feeling the palpable tension as they held each others gaze. Joel could feel the accusations pouring out towards her, feel the purposeless anger that was building up in her direction.

'Nothin',' he finally mumbled, looking away. He felt her holding the gaze, felt her breathing deep, containing her anger. It was suddenly cold between them, distant.

'Let's go,' he said, walking past, exiting the gate where the soldier nodded at them.

Ellie looked at him, waiting for him to notice her. He avoided her, looked to the side and sighed.

'That was fucked up,' she simply said, as they reached the pile of rubble on the road again. 'You shouldn't have said that . . Just saying.'

He watched defeated as she climbed up the rubble, and felt the distance increasing as Kenda walked past, climbed and jumped off the other side, not looking at him once.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Home

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Home

* * *

'Where you goin'?' Joel asked, leaning forward on the couch as Ellie walked to the door.

She looked back once and replied, 'Just out hunting.'

'Oh,' he got up, and said. 'Wait here. I'll get my bag.'

'You sure?' Ellie asked, her eyes following him as he went upstairs.

He appeared again with his backpack, waving her concern off with a shake of his hand as he came downstairs. 'I'll just have Mike fill in. He's got nothin' to do anyway.'

Ellie felt a little prick as she saw him walking over, and realised that it was guilt. She didn't want him giving up his own duties or make small sacrifices to spend time with her.

'I'll be okay, you know,' she mumbled, as she walked onto the road, waiting for Joel as he locked the door. She saw something sticking out of his backpack, that looked like a wooden rod. She almost caught a proper glimpse, but he turned around and she lost it.

'After that little stunt with the infected?' he said aloud. 'I ain't leavin' you alone.'

'Ugh,' Ellie growled impatiently. 'Just let it go already. That was . . impulsive.'

'Yeah, I get it,' Joel shrugged, as they began walking towards the dam. 'Impulsive can get you killed, kid.'

Ellie said nothing, and Joel cleared his throat, immediately realising that he had entered murky waters. Impulsive basically described everything he had done for her in the past.

'So, what're we huntin' today?' he asked aloud, sounding a little upbeat.

'Not rabbits, for sure,' she said. 'I'm bored of them . . Let's look for a Lion. I've never seen them, always wanted to seen one. The hair and everything . . It's kinda cool.'

Joel looked at her wordlessly for a minute. She met his gaze questioningly.

'There ain't no lions here . . You know that, right?' he said, concerned on a number of levels.

'What?' she uttered. 'But they had them in that Zoo back at Salt Lake City, I saw the posters!'

Joel shook his head, bemused. 'That's a Zoo, Ellie. There's no wild cats in this jungle. This ain't Africa.'

'Bears?' she asked, hopefully.

Joel pressed her shoulder, a little too hard and Ellie grimaced.

'Maybe some other time, huh?' he simply said, and Ellie gave a wry, distant smile.

* * *

Ellie let out a long, soft breath, aiming the arrow right across the glade. She could see it moving on the tree bark, scurrying up and down. She waited until it stood still, and let it go. The thwack sounded loud the very second.

'I think you hit it,' Joel said from beside her. 'Let's go check it out.'

She watched as he went over to it, picked it up and held it up in her direction, giving her a thumbs up.

They made a small fire out of twigs and branches, Joel seated on a flat rock, Ellie laying across a fallen log. It was slowly getting dark, but Joel had told her that they could stay back in the forest for the night. Ellie loved the idea, reminded her immediately of the time they had spent a year ago while making their way to Jackson.

Three squirrels and a rabbit clung to metal rods on top of the fire, and the crackling of the flames sounded divine to Ellie. She rested her hands under her head, looking up at the leaves and branches of oak and beech, listening to Joel speak.

'That's all we did that day,' he said, sharpening her switchblade for her. 'Just gazed at the stars. Made up constellations and stories and told each other.'

'Do you know any constellations?' Ellie asked, turning sideways on the log, laying on her stomach. She propped her head up on her hand, facing him.

'Nope,' he replied. 'Sarah did. They were teachin' those in school. She told me a bunch of them, and obviously I didn't bother learnin'.'

'I wish they taught that in my school,' she said.

Joel looked up at her, and asked curiously, 'Yeah, you never told me about that school. What did they teach you there?'

'Ugh, I don't even know,' Ellie said. 'It was stupid. Most times we didn't even have teachers.'

'Sounds nice,' Joel commented, handing her switchblade back to her. She turned it around in her hand, observing the gleaming metal, the small handle.

'Sometimes it was . .' Ellie confessed. 'I could just keep to myself and read books. This soldier back in Boston used to bring me some from his house.'

'Soldier?' he asked, raising his eyebrows at her. He rested his elbows on his knees, listening to her intently. Night was falling, and he saw the fire reflecting in her green eyes, making orange shadows on her skin.

'Yeah,' she replied. 'The kids were all assholes, so I had no friends. I spent more time kicking their asses than talking to them.'

Joel felt a tug at his heart, watching her sullen face. Realising the full weight of the loss she had faced in her life, losing Riley, and then Vera. He couldn't imagine losing close friends like that, at her age, especially since she had no others.

'Riley was my best friend for almost a year,' she said, sitting up, resting her elbows on her knees as she examined her blade. 'She used to show me the city, even the areas off-limits . . It was fun.'

'Yeah, I bet,' Joel mumbled, rubbing his palms together slowly, feeling for her deeply.

'I loved her,' Ellie suddenly said. Joel perked up at this, slowly sitting up straight, finding himself at a loss for words. He didn't know whom she meant it for, but a deep part of him told him it was for both of them.

'What about you?' she suddenly asked, finding something to distract herself. She looked at him, sheathing her blade and putting it inside. 'Did you have a lot of friends?'

'Uh . . no,' Joel confessed, shaking his head, slightly embarrassed.

'Even before the breakout?' Ellie asked incredulously.

'No, not many,' he shrugged. 'I mostly hung out with Tommy. Sometimes was forced to be friends with people for different reasons.'

'How can you be forced to be friends?' Ellie asked, her eyebrows cocking in confusion. 'I mean . . I don't get it.'

Joel laughed faintly. 'Well . . I had to be friendly to the neighbours, because they would keep an eye on Sarah when I wasn't home. And had to friends with Sarah's friend's parents because . . Well, just had to.'

Ellie realised how his world had revolved around his daughter, and felt profoundly for him. She said nothing for a few seconds as she absorbed the fact, but found him slipping into those memories as she did, his smile slowly fading. So she spoke again, 'But you didn't like any of them?'

'No, not really . .'

'Or _they_ didn't like you?' she asked, and nodded like it made sense. 'I could see that.'

'Whoa, now,' he said, slightly offended. He raised his eyebrows, pointing a stick at her. 'I'll have you know ma'am, I was a fun guy. Good lookin' too. One of the kid's mother's kept hittin' on me. People liked me, that wasn't the problem.'

Ellie grinned and in a light voice, said, 'Shut up! Seriously?'

'Yeah,' Joel shrugged lightly, like it wasn't a big deal.

'Was she a single mom?' Ellie asked. 'If yes, you should've dated her. Single moms are cool.'

'No, no,' Joel mumbled. 'She had a husband.'

'What!' Ellie burst into laughter, and regarded Joel with a teasing look, eyebrows raised. 'Damn, you, you player.'

Joel simply shook his head, a light smile lingering on his lips. Ellie wondered if she could ask the next question, and taking the risk, she went ahead in a soft, low voice, 'What about your wife?'

Joel tightened up a little at this, his smile faded.

'Never mind, you don't have to,' Ellie immediately said, apologetically.

'No, no, it's okay,' Joel shook his head. He sighed, and looked up, then looked at her. 'Ex-wife. She left me cause she wasn't happy. That's all.'

'Oh,' Ellie mumbled. She looked at him for a few seconds, and then asked, 'Did people do that a lot, back then?'

'Do what?' Joel asked, glancing at her, poking the fire as it crackled more. He pulled out two squirrels that were cooked, handed her one.

'Leave each other,' she said. 'Cheat on each other . .'

Joel heaved once as he breathed. 'All the time, kiddo,' he answered. 'We took each other for granted back then. Never learned the value of company . .'

'Wow,' Ellie exhaled, taking a bite of the squirrel after seasoning it. 'It's amazing the things people took for granted back then . .'

Joel had it in mind to tell her that people still took each other for granted. It was materialistic things that were suddenly valuable now, not human beings. But he simply shrugged. 'Kinda the same now, you know. Human nature don't change that easy.'

'True,' Ellie said. She pursed her lips, leaning forward. With a hurried, but considerate voice, she said, 'You should say sorry to her. To Kenda. I just . . think you should.'

Joel heard her, and glanced at her tiredly from the corner of his eyes. 'I know,' he agreed weakly. 'I will . .'

'I just think you two are nice together,' Ellie mumbled, trying hard not to project her own memories in those words. 'I like her. Don't let her go.'

Joel poked the fire, deep in thought, his tired, old eyes reflecting the yellow flames. She could trace every wrinkle on his face in the golden, flickering light, pick every grey strand that fell lazily on his forehead.

'Oh, I forgot,' Joel mumbled, putting the half-eaten squirrel aside. He reached into his backpack, and Ellie watched with wide eyes, crumbs of food stuck to her lower lip. Her eyes sparkled as he pulled out a tiny guitar, barely an arm's length.

'Whoa!' she exclaimed, immediately scooting over to his side. 'How did you find one this small! That's so fucking cool, you can take this anywhere!'

'This ain't a guitar,' Joel said, shifting aside to give her space on the rock beside him. 'It's a ukelele.'

'A ukelele,' she repeated carefully, brushing her fingers across the wood and the strings.

'Tommy found it and gave it to me,' Joel said, tuning the instrument. Ellie's excitement built up higher with every chord she heard, even though he was simply testing it. Joel glanced at her and grinned.

'Easy, kiddo,' he mumbled, turning a knob at the end, picking one chord until the tune was sharp. 'Been twenty two years now. I'll probably get it all wrong.'

'You better not,' she warned, and Joel smiled. She scooted back and sat on the log again, giving him space to work with the instrument.

'Oh man,' she clasped her hands together in excitement, her cheeks red and her eyes bright. She rested her chin in her hands, leaning forward, big doe eyes staring at him as he cleared his throat.

The music and the rusty, old voice sounded among the leaves and branches, drifted with the wind. It seemed to conquer everything around them, make a bubble around them that shielded them from everything. Ellie felt time stopping, gravity failing. The only thing holding them to the ground was his voice, his fingers as they delicately strummed the small instrument.

It was a laid-back, lazy tune, and the words were cute, but Ellie still felt her eyes dampening for a few seconds. She guessed by the words, that the name of the song was _Me and Bobby Mcgee_ by some country singer she didn't know. Joel's voice was too deep and rusty for it, but it was still perfect.

' _From the coal mines of Kentucky, to the California hills,_

 _Bobby shared the secrets of my soul . ._

 _Standing right beside me lord, through everything I'd done,_

 _Every night she kept me from the cold._

 _Then somewhere near Salinas lord, I let her slip away . ._

 _Looking for the home I hope she'd find,_

 _And I'd trade all my tomorrow's, for a single yesterday,_

 _Holding Bobby's body next to mine . .'_

The words soon got to her, as she sensed the weight in them, the history, the pain that Joel's voice itself seemed to put into them. She found herself crying soon enough, and Joel stopped abruptly, but she begged him to continue, to keep singing.

Because it was the first time she had cried, the first time she had let her sorrow get the better of her since Vera's departure. Her heart felt light, the air around her suddenly seemed to wash into her lungs like a weight had been lifted off of them, inspite of the loud, shameless sobs that cracked through her lips. When it was done, Joel walked over to her and sat by her on the log. She rested her head in his lap and closed her eyes, as he began to sing another tune for her.

* * *

 **A/N: The song Joel sings is Me and Bobby Mcgee, the original version by Kris Kristofferson, not the Janis Joplin remake. It's a beautiful, beautiful tune and the longing in his voice just grips you. I cried like a baby when I heard it, don't ask me why. I'm weird.**

 **Love you all.**


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Crumble

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Crumble

* * *

Joel made his way down the street, leaving his horse with Damon. He walked back to the town, rifle slung on his shoulder. He hadn't seen Kenda at the dam today, so he decided to go visit her at her house. Sun streamed bright from the sky, and tree branches and grass blades shook to a light, gasping breeze that brushed once in a while.

When he reached her apartment, his hand stopped midway before knocking. He closed his eyes and cursed under his breath, remembering what he had said at the military base two days ago, remembering the blind anger that had engulfed him back then. For a second, he considered going back home and leaving matters with Kenda as they were. He didn't trust himself with someone as much, and especially after the feelings that had surfaced at the military base, he was reminded that his demons couldn't be tamed. If he couldn't control them, Kenda was better off without him.

His lips pursed in a straight line, as he shut his eyes once and breathed out. Then, he extended his reluctant hand and knocked thrice, in short, formal bursts.

He waited.

When the door finally opened, he was almost ready to leave. At the sound of the soft click, he turned and looked at her, saw her face, sullen, unusually tired.

'Hey,' he said, and she looked at him inquisitively, as if asking the reason for his visit. He saw the crease between her eyebrows, the firm glance with which she regarded him.

He cleared his throat once, looked down and spoke, 'Think you can forgive an old man?'

She shook her head, mumbled, 'Christ's sake,' and opened the door wide. 'Come on in,' she said. He stepped into the familiar hall, sat down in front of the empty fireplace on the old couch. He watched as she walked to the kitchen, and poured in some whisky in two glasses. There was something off about her, like she had something sitting on her mind and it was nagging her constantly.

'Here,' she said, handing him a glass with the spirit. He saw her face, eyebrows drawn in worry, fingertips jumpy. She sat down on the couch next to his, and asked how work was.

'Same old,' he answered. 'Didn't see you today?'

'I . . had some thinking to do,' she replied, avoiding his gaze. She still felt distant to him, like something was keeping her away from him. He saw her fingers interlaced in her lap. He looked up and saw her constantly biting at her lower lip, eyes on the ground. He saw her eyebrows drooped at the ends, eyes scanning the floorboards in almost an anxious haste.

'Look,' he began, his voice gentle as he inched towards her. His tone was slightly apologetic, as he realised that it had been foolish and unnecessary to reprimand her over her own personal secrets. He sighed, and continued, 'I don't know why you didn't tell me about your father, and I know it's none of my business, but uhh . .'

He stopped as he heard her drawing in a sharp breath, her voice suddenly shaky. 'I'm leaving, Joel,' she simply said, eyes shutting for a moment. Throat shaking in a way that hinted at the presence of a lump, wobbling once before she gulped, opened her eyes and looked at him.

He felt his heart skipping a beat, stopping for a second.

'In a week,' she added. 'I . . I got some things to take care of.'

'But you'll be back?'

He felt his question hanging in the air, clinging on to blind hope as he looked into her eyes, partly in denial, partly in confusion.

She met his eyes apprehensively, but replied firmly, 'Probably not.'

Joel gulped, and looked away from her immediately, let his eyes drift to the door. He couldn't look at her.

He felt walls collapsing inside him, felt that tender part of him pulled out and once again exposed to pain, to departure. He felt his ragged heart already twisting, accepting it in defeat. He took a moment, steadying himself, absorbing the fact, letting it sink in. But no matter what he did, it still stayed on the surface, still made no sense to him. At once, all the time he had spent with her seemed like a lie.

He felt something else surfacing now, slow, but steady. It was red, hot. It came to his throat, and when he looked back at her, it reached his eyes.

'And you're not gonna change your mind?' he simply asked, his voice low, almost rumbling in pain and anger.

Her eyes were pleading, noticing the coldness in them, the roil. She mumbled, 'No.'

'Why?' he asked, shaking his head. He got up, standing in front of her, looking down at her with a deep furrow between his brows. 'It doesn't make any fuckin' sense. Why would you? Don't this-' his voice got caught in his throat, the words stuck inside him, afraid to come out. He took a moment as he gulped, the underside of his eyelids briefly glassy. He blinked, shadowed his pain and changed his words, '-don't this town mean anythin' to you?'

'All these years,' she said, her eyes on the ground. Her voice was loud, but considerate, apologetic. Like she was desperate, like she was sharing her most naked, shameful secret with him. 'I thought my father was dead. For fifteen years, I thought everything was okay. But now . .' she shook her head once, like she was brushing away something in annoyance. 'It's complicated, Joel. I-I just gotta see him. That's all I can say.'

Joel shut his eyes tight, turning away from her, listening to her talk. He knew he couldn't reason with her about that. It was a deep-rooted conflict, something personal and precious to her. But he wanted to yell, to tell her what she was going after was stupid, and that she should just stay back.

'The last thing I said to him was that I was ashamed to be his daughter,' Kenda said, her voice faltered once. She stood up slowly, leaning her head to the side to face him. Joel looked the other way, and her eyes followed his, pleading. He met her eyes in subtle defeat, but they were shielded, shadowed from her by fury.

'I'm sorry. I've been living in this town for fifteen years. I've been pretending like everything outside didn't exist, like the world was at peace. But the truth is, there's nothing for me here, Joel. Absolutely nothing.' Her voice wobbled for a second- just for a brief, short moment before she gulped again and struggled to meet his gaze. 'Before you, I had nobody here. Nobody that I could call my own. But now I know that one person tied to my past still exists out there,' she shook her head in defeat. Joel said nothing, lips pursed and eyes still blazing in stubborn anger as he listened to her. 'You got Ellie,' she uttered, weakly throwing her hands in the air, like she had just blurted out something that was eating her heart out. 'Who do I have?'

Joel looked away from her for a second, shaking his head, willfully blind and unyielding to the pain and longing in her voice, in her words. She continued, her eyes scanning his face for a hint of understanding that she never found. 'If he's alive, I need to go to him. I can't live with myself knowing that I didn't take a step.'

'How d'you know it ain't a lie?' he retorted, finally meeting her eyes, with the same anger.

'I don't,' she shrugged weakly.

Joel held her gaze for a while, felt his anger dissipating, the very, very familiar pain conquering his heart, icy fingers gripping it.

'Joel . .' she mumbled, pleading.

'Alright, okay,' he said, shaking his head once. 'You go to him, you find him. And then what?'

Kenda said nothing for a while, regaining her composure. 'I . . heard that he was making some militia group in Lafayette . .'

He lifted his arms and dropped them, shaking his head in confusion. 'So you're gonna strap on guns and join the militia, that it?'

'Joel . .'

'Never mind,' he muttered, his voice wobbled for a second. The grit returned to his words as he spoke, stepping away from her. Even the anger seemed to dwindle, replaced by defeat that was shrouded under poorly shown indifference. His voice was low, terse. 'You wanna go across country and fix your goddamn daddy issues? You do it. Who am I to stop you, huh?'

He grabbed his rifle and walked out, slamming the door of the apartment behind him, leaving her standing shattered, alone.

He lingered outside her door, facing the sky, taking a deep, shaky breath. He closed his eyes and gulped. Then he left.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Adamantine

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

Adamantine

* * *

Ellie grasped the key in her hand, tight. The metal felt cold against her fingers. It was rusty and old, nearly blackened with age. She looked up to meet Kenda's eyes, saw them tired and worried.

'Will you be alright?' she asked meekly. The evening breeze shook her hair from the back of her ear. They sat on a cliff facing the sunset, the sky filled in orange, pink and blue. Ellie saw Kenda's eyes on the ground, saw a strand of straight black hair falling to her jaw.

'I'll be fine,' she answered.'This ain't my first rodeo.'

Ellie smiled wryly, followed Kenda's gaze to the town below them. The roof tops were glistening in yellow and gold, water tanks engulfed in shadow, facing away form the sunset.

'So I can use your things whenever I want?' Ellie asked, feeling the key in her grip.

'Sure,' Kenda replied. 'Got some of those comics you like so much. A lot of casette tapes and few books. Better take them all before Maria hands the key to someone else.'

'Cool,' Ellie smiled. 'When are you leaving, then?' she asked, and Kenda laughed, shaking her head.

'Tonight,' she answered. 'You don't need to worry about me, Ellie. Just . .'

The word passed unsaid between the two of them, and Ellie nodded.

'He'll be okay,' she mumbled.

'If everything goes well, I might come back. Don't know when, though,' Kenda said. 'Knowing my father, he's not gonna let me go.'

'Do you really think he's making packs?' Ellie asked.

'Yeah,' Kenda admitted weakly, eyebrows raised at the sunset. 'It's something he would do. Was always a sucker for power. I'm sure he's got some nasty ideas of what to do with that new militia.'

'And you're gonna join them?' she asked, slightly shocked.

'No,' Kenda shook her head. 'I'm gonna be with them. Knock some sense into my father once in a while. Stop him from doing too much damage. Try to make sure he doesn't take too many lives.'

'Wow,' Ellie shook her head, looking at her. 'He doesn't sound like a very good person,' she mumbled.

Kenda grinned. 'He's not the best, no. He survives. He wins . . but he's my father.'

Ellie nodded, feeling a sudden sense of veneration towards her, towards that emotion she expressed in this moment, which she understood better than anybody else.

'I can respect that,' she said.

* * *

It was almost an hour to midnight when Ellie got home, and she was greeted by an empty, dark living room. She saw the laundry basket on the table. She heard footsteps upstairs, and followed them all the way to Joel's room.

She pushed it open, slowly, and saw him setting his clothes, putting them into his drawers. The room smelled like him- musky, with a fragrance of oak and gasoline.

'You're home,' he regarded her once, walking to his bed and grabbing a shirt from the small pile. He folded it up, looking at her as he did it. 'Hungry?'

'I ate with Maria,' Ellie replied. Joel gave a nod and went to his cupboard, pulling out the drawer to place the shirt in.

'You should've come,' Ellie said.

'No,' Joel mumbled, his voice laced with a mix of sorrow and anger. 'Trust me, it's better this way.'

'Better how?' Ellie shrugged, walking in, sitting on the bed beside his pile of clothes. She faced him as he returned to fold a pair of jeans, two of the ones in his possession.

'She wanted to see you before leaving. You may never see her again,' Ellie reminded him softly. 'Who knows what's gonna happen, right?'

'It just is,' Joel muttered stubbornly. 'It's easier. For her, and for me.'

'Sure, Joel,' Ellie said, firmly. 'You know you're just afraid.'

'Maybe I am,' Joel retorted, shutting the cupboard, a little harder than usual. She could see the anger in his movements, hear it in his voice. She sighed, watched defeated as he avoided looking at her, simply pulled the sheets of his bed back, the lines around his mouth deeper in the golden bed lamp.

'I'm gonna sleep now,' he said, and Ellie took the hint, getting off of the bed. She went to her room, leaving her backpack and the key on the study table. She changed into her old shorts and shirt, and pulled back the covers of her bed. And stopped.

With stubborn footsteps, she walked back to his room, saw him sleeping, laying on his side with the bed lamp turned off.

'What is it now?' she heard him asking, without looking at her. Ellie approached his bed, and pulling back the covers on the other side, slipped underneath and scooted closer to his warmth, his back facing her. She heard him sighing deeply, but very well knew that he was glad. She scootched closer to his back, laying a small hand on his shoulder.

After a while, she felt a large, rough hand around her fingers, pressing it close to his chest.


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Resolute

**SUMMER**

 **CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

Resolute

* * *

Tommy and Jen drove into the military base, the back of the pickup truck full with one sack of corn, one sack of vegetables and a bag of meat.

The seven soldiers gathered round the truck, carrying the goods inside with visibly lightened faces. He could tell that they were happy looking at the food, and felt a part of him relieved. It wasn't much of a loss to the town, it was barely some food he had scraped, without which they had enough rations to feed all mouths anyway.

Claire, the in-charge woman, walked to them appreciatively.

'We'll keep our end of the deal,' she nodded, and beckoned a soldier. He arrived with a metal box. Tommy opened it up and just as promised, saw three automatic rifles, and enough magazines to last a few fights.

'Appreciate it,' he nodded at Claire and the soldier, as Jen placed the box in the back of the truck.

'Where's Kenda?' Claire asked. Tommy hesitated for a seconds, and then answered, 'She left to Lafayette.'

'Oh,' she nodded, clearly down beat at the news. A hint of suspicion creeped into her face, but she caught a soldier carrying a sack of corn out of the pickup, and looked satisfied.

'You wanna shake on further deals?' Jen asked, looking at Claire. She gave Tommy and Jen a speculative look, and then a curt nod.

'I can't promise how long this will go on for,' Claire said, folding her arms across her chest. 'But as long as it does, we'll keep our end. So long as you keep yours.'

'Of course,' Tommy nodded once, respectfully.

'And keep a low profile 'bout this trade,' Claire said, stepping closer. 'We're makin' it cause this base is in the forest, and not many authorities round here to authorize. Better if word didn't travel outside the county.'

'I get that,' Tommy nodded. 'We'll see you again in two weeks.'

'I'll give you more ammo and one more Machine gun.'

'Whoa, whoa,' Tommy said, holding up a hand, eyebrows scrunching. 'One more?'

'Yeah,' Claire nodded. 'We're not swimmin' here in weapons, boy. We barely get enough to get by safely ourselves. We gotta carry out surveillance missions round the forest too.'

'Two machine guns,' Tommy negotiated. 'And ammo worth five, lasting for a month and I give you three weeks worth of rations.'

Claire looked doubtful, glanced back at her fellow soldiers. She went over, and they huddled to discuss. Soon she returned, and shook his hand on it.

'And, uh . .' Tommy mumbled, getting back into the pick up truck. He looked out the window at Claire, and in a low voice, asked, 'How's that problem with the Fireflies?'

Claire shook her head, her eyes scanning his face speculatively. 'Not good, boyo. Phoenix is in their hands. Heard of other chapters springing up in Wisconsin and Dallas. Seems to me they was layin' low all this time after that leader died.'

Tommy shrugged, hiding the silent panic that was rising up his spine. 'Well, your guys over there will see to it. Just swattin' flies, ain't that right?'

Claire laughed, and gave an appreciative nod to Tommy as they turned the truck and drove out, taking a long way round the rubble.

* * *

Ellie watched solemnly as Joel made lunch for them. She saw him shaking the pot on the stove, switching it off and bringing the hot vessel to the table, placing it in the middle. The crease between his eyebrows seemed to have deepened, the lines around his mouth almost looked like furrows.

Ellie twisted her mouth in an 'o' and whistled once, smelling the brimming pot of carrot stew.

'Well,' she said, trying to sound upbeat, pouring some of the food into her bowl 'Looks like someone's finally learning . . Man, it smells amazing!'

Joel grumbled something under his breath, pouring himself some in his bowl.

'Now don't be all messy,' he said to her, looking up at her once. His face was the same, part-scowling, part-indifferent. 'I ain't gonna clean up after you.'

'Pssh!' Ellie shook her head. 'Like you ever do. I always clean up my own mess.'

Joel said nothing, but proceeded to have his lunch. Ellie did the same, but kept passing random comments the entire time, in an attempt to squeeze out some response from him that wasn't a grunt. The hall was bathed in the sunlight that streamed in through the windows, giving everything a dreamy golden glow. Ellie's hair looked like fire, the sun picking out red and bordering the edges with yellow.

'I'm thinking . .' she said, her smile slowly fading, her spoon swirling the liquid around in her bowl.

Joel looked at her, attentive to the sudden dip in her tone.

'I should go talk to Johnny,' she said, her eyes slightly distant. 'He's got no other friends . . and neither do I, really.'

Joel put his spoon down, his eyes fixated on her as he listened intently. The change he had observed in her last month, the sudden ageing in her features, seemed to return. Her mouth was a straight line, her eyes lost in some deep thought.

'He lost his mother too,' Ellie mumbled, laying her head down beside the bowl, swirling her spoon around as she watched absent-mindedly. 'I shouldn't have been so hard on him. I'm such an idiot . .'

Joel cleared his throat feebly, watching her as his eyebrows drooped at the ends. 'He's a good kid,' he mumbled, for the lack of anything better to say.

Ellie sat up again, finishing the remainder of her lunch. She waited politely as Joel had his seconds, eyes on the window, observing the sun that seemed to be shining at its brightest. She saw leaves greener than she had ever seen, standing still in the absence of breeze.

'Do you think she made it?' Ellie mumbled lightly. She could almost feel Joel cringing internally, and noticed from the corner of her eyes, his hand clenching into a light fist on the table.

The lines of age on his face deepened, as he muttered in a quiet, condescending voice, 'Ellie-'

'Just tell me,' Ellie interrupted, turning to look at him. 'It's been a month, Joel. We gotta bring her up sometime.'

Joel closed his eyes in defeat. His face changed, his eyebrows lowering in anger, his fists unclenching slowly like he was trying to calm himself down. He shook his head as he opened his eyes.

'I don't get you,' Ellie said, her glance slightly accusing.

'What?' Joel uttered, confused.

'I don't,' Ellie repeated, shaking her head, resting her elbows on the table, her eyebrows scrunching like she was trying to make sense of something that enraged her. 'You literally had her with you the whole time.'

Joel shook his head again, leaning back in his chair as he looked at her, befuddled and infuriated . 'Ellie-'

'-No,' Ellie said immediately, meeting his eyes with a newfound determination. Joel observed it again, her features turning and straightening in a way that made her look older, like she had suddenly matured the very instant. Her eyes looked smaller, her cheeks hollow. He blinked once, as if to make sure that it wasn't just his imagination.

'You love her, don't you?' she said. 'Then, I don't get it. You had the chance to make peace with her the whole time, but you just fucking sat back and let her slip away, when you know that you may never see her again!'

'There ain't nothin' I could've done,' Joel shook his head, slightly taken-aback by her accusation. 'Ellie, don't you ever spring hurtful matters at someone like that. It sure as hell ain't nice, and don't make you a better person. Do you get me?' he leaned forward, his eyes boring into hers for conformation, his paternal side taking over as he lifted a finger to make a point. 'We clear?'

'That's not the point, Joel,' Ellie shook her head, looking away, her eyes finding the window. 'You just-' she searched for words in her head, shutting her eyes. 'You just never-'

Joel saw the confusion and rage in her, the silent, deep-rooted conflict that seemed to surface this very moment.

She sighed heavily, shaking her head. 'Never mind. You won't ever get it.'

'Ellie,' Joel said, closing his eyes and sighing in defeat. The sudden endearment in his tone made her stop from getting up. She froze, eyes on the table as her hands clenched into fists.

'Ellie, what's on your mind?' he asked, his voice gentle as ever, as he stood up and walked over to her, kneeling down beside her chair. Ellie avoided his gaze, her eyes fixed on her clenched fists under the table.

'Ellie, come on,' he encouraged her, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She turned in his direction, her eyes still averted from his, fixed on a random point on his plaid shirt.

'I just don't understand,' she mumbled, and Joel's heart immediately sank deep as he heard the pain in her voice.

'You love Kenda. She loves you. I get that you couldn't stop her, but you could've been with her,' Ellie said, her voice gentler, the accusing tone in it dwindling. She spoke like she was genuinely pained by the facts she was stating. 'Why would anybody do that to someone they love? I mean, why let it slip when you have the chance?'

She met his gaze, and Joel found himself speechless, partly because of the emptiness in his own chest, and partly because of the wells he saw in her lower eyelids.

'If I had the chance to say something to Vera-' her voice trailed off immediately, and Joel held her hand, pressing his fingers against hers, offering her stability like a pillar. Ellie remembered last summer, when her and Vera had ran and leaped through the forest, hunting for rabbits. She remembered Vera teaching her how to swing a throw blade, her fingers on Ellie's shoulders as she guided her.

'That's okay, Ellie . .'

'No, listen,' she shook her head, sniffling once as she looked at him. 'If I knew I was never gonna see Vera after that day, or-or Riley, after that . . fucking hell of a day, I would've . .'

She shook her head, sniffling, struggling to turn the emotions she felt into words. She wiped her nose against the back of her hand, shaking her head. 'I would've given up everything, Joel,' she finally said. 'I would've given up fucking everything, to be with them . .'

'Ellie . .'

Joel pressed her fingers harder, like he was beginning to stabilise himself, feeling his heart shatter at the pain in her voice, the longing and sorrow in her eyes. He wrapped a hand around her shoulder lightly, struggling to give her space by going against every instinct of his, that forced him to embrace her tight, hold her close to his chest like he could physically shield her from that pain.

'Riley said she wouldn't give up two fucking seconds if she could be with someone she loved,' Ellie said, and took a shaky breath. 'She said she would fight for it. Fight for it until she died,' she looked at Joel, her eyes brimming, completely surrendered to the weight her heart carried.

'Ellie . .' Joel pulled her into an embrace, clutching her head to his shoulder, holding her close like he could almost share the weight, like he could tear it away from her and pile it on his ragged heart.

'I-I feel stupid, sorry . .' Ellie mumbled, raising a reluctant hand, gripping the fabric of his shirt on his chest.

'No, don't,' Joel immediately uttered, like a reflex, and he carried a lot of things in those two words- guilt, embarrassment, hurt, shame, but most of all, admiration. Because in that moment, he was reminded of how this girl had crossed extreme borders and put her own conscience on the line to pull him back into the world, all by clinging on to a string of words from a departed friend.

'I'm sorry,' he uttered, and Ellie could almost feel the word rising up from his heart. 'And don't you dare apologise for sayin' or doin' the right thing, you get me?' he pulled back, holding her by the shoulders at arm's length as he gazed into her eyes. 'Not to me, not to anybody, you get me?'

Ellie wiped her eyes, mumbling in feeble agreement.

'Now,' Joel mumbled, getting up, stroking a side of her head with a soft hand as he looked down at her. 'Wanna go for a swim?'

Ellie wiped her arm across her eyes and sniffled, looking back up at him. She nodded faintly.

'Alright, go get ready kiddo,' he said, and bent down to give her a light, lingering kiss on her forehead. Ellie closed her eyes as she absorbed the love through his touch, making it an eternal part of her.

'Okay,' she mumbled, as he pulled back and patted her on the shoulder lightly.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Feud

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Feud

* * *

The summer sun illuminated brick buildings and apartments twenty storeys high. The streets were empty, walls and poles plagued with evacuation notices and billboards full of curfew schedules. It was obvious, however, that the city had been abandoned by both the military and the residents a decade ago.

Among such buildings, one stood tall and wide, about five-storeys high with an empty drive-in, it's windows locked off and doors barricaded. Cars sat around the entrance, and light streamed in through the windows that were open.

In a room that had once been a conference hall, Kenda sat at the edge of a round-table, her hands folded, eyes fixed on the window. From the second floor, she could see trees below, standing still. She saw men holding rifles and shotguns, wearing tatters of what used to be military uniforms, seated on the front of trucks and cars, standing guard. She saw them suddenly excited, standing up and pointing at something. A clicker moved somewhere behind, far away, apparently some of the few remaining from all the infected the boys had culled in the past two years. They took turns shooting it, their laughs and excited howls reaching Kenda's ears muffled.

She turned to the door, as it clicked open and a giant of a man walked in. She took a deep breath, the hollow between her collar bones darkening as she gulped in nervousness.

The man was about 6"4, with shoulders that spanned like a throne. Half of his face was hidden behind a bushy,

grey-ish white beard, the other visible half showing thin, old, grey eyes that appeared to devour everything in their way. Wrinkles seated deep in his forehead and around his mouth, and his ears stood out in front of his chin-length white hair. His old age was evident only when one looked at his face. He wore a half-sleeved military coat, a pair of ill fitting jeans. Veiny, bulky muscles popped out from under his sleeves, traced his skin all the way to his fingers. He heaved as he walked towards her, and Kenda felt her stomach fluttering in that very familiar fear. The air he carried with him seemed to chill the room instantly.

'You're still here,' his voice was deep, hoarse. He sat in front of her, facing her on a swivel chair. The chair dipped and creaked under his weight. The sunlight picked strands of his white hair and beard, and showed half an ear lobe, with the upper half missing in a way evident of some previous injury. His cold eyes found hers, unwavering.

Kenda looked at the ground, shifting her position on the table to bring up another leg, folding her arms across her chest.

'I told you, I don't need you here,' he spoke, resting a hand on the table in front of him.

'Of course you don't,' Kenda shook her head, looking back up at him. 'Without me here, you could send out troops into the neighbourhood. That'd be convenient, wouldn't it?'

'You think my men will listen to you?' he asked, his eyebrows drooping in the center.

'They already do,' Kenda retorted. 'I commandeered half your troops back in '22. Most of those men down there trust me.'

'Most of those men down there, fear me,' the man said, cocking his head towards the window, gesturing to the men that were standing guard. 'Now you know very well what works better.'

Kenda shook her head in disbelief, holding his gaze with confused, infuriated eyes. 'What's your plan, dad?' she asked, with a feeble shrug. 'Go around to the remainder of civilisation and destroy it? Raid, murder, rape and plunder, is that your motive right now?'

'None of your business, kid,' Gene shook his head, and Kenda immediately shut her eyes, suppressing a bout of anger. She opened them, her brown eyes boring into his dangerously, challengingly.

'I'm not a kid anymore,' she said, enunciating each word with hate and anger. 'And I can promise you, dad, as long as I'm around, I sure as hell won't let you do what you're best at doing.'

'And what's that?' Gene asked, slightly bemused.

'Raiding,' Kenda uttered, and the sunlight picked wells under her eyelids. 'Killing, murdering.' She gulped and held them back, her hands trembling with rage as she looked down at him.

'I know you did it,' she said, leaning forward to meet his eyes unfazed. 'I know, you sent those men to Jackson. I knew it the moment Ed mentioned your name.'

Gene shook his head, resting a foot on the table beside her, folding the other across his knee.

'My men need supplies,' Gene simply said. 'I sent troops around to all surrounding towns, and not just your pitiful hole, if you gotta know.'

'I don't give a fuck, dad,' Kenda uttered. 'It was my mistake, staying in the dark all these years, thinking I could just put everything behind me and live my life.'

An end of his lips curled into a smile at this, but she continued unhindered. 'But I'm here now, and you can make sure that you won't be doing any of that nasty business around.'

'You're gonna stop me?'

'Sure as hell plan to,' Kenda uttered, standing up from the table. 'You're at the end of your days anyway. I'm gonna hold out for as long as I can.'

She turned and left the room, her strides long and confident as she shut the door loud behind her.

Gene smiled to himself, pair of cold grey eyes glancing out the window, looking at the men that were in the parking lot, standing guard. He stood up and walked to the window, hands in his pockets as he looked out.

'Hey, Memo!' he called, and one of the men immediately looked up. He leaped off of the truck and rushed to stand under the window, looking up at him, hand gripping his rifle.

'Yeah, boss?' he asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.

'What was that town we sent the boys to the other day?' he asked, resting his hands on the window sill. 'The one Kenda came from?'

The man shook his head lightly, confused. 'A little settlement at Jackson County, 's all I know!'

'How many men we lose there?'

'About thirty, thirty-five?' the man replied. 'The rest returned, they're at the infirmary!'

'Well, get them to me soon as they're healed,' Gene said aloud, with a firm nod. 'I wanna know exactly what happened down there at that burg.'

'Alright, Gene,' the man nodded. 'Uhh, what's the plan?'

Gene said nothing, but moved back from the window and took his seat again, looking at the table in front of him, the spot in which Kenda was seated a while ago.

'Let's see what you got,' he muttered under his breath, his voice a low growl.

* * *

 **A/N: I probably won't be updating in a while, got my exams coming up. So there you go, Kenda's father is here. I know there's too much OC-OC drama going on here, but honestly, the story took this turn on its own and I expect it's gonna head in a good direction. I'm writing as I go here.**

 **Fnd out next time what Gene really has in mind, and how it's significant for Joel and Ellie. See you soon guys. Love.**


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Family

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Family

* * *

Joel sighed lightly, as he saw Ellie and Johnny on the street, talking to each other. By the way their sullen faces glanced at one another's, and their movements stayed weak and untraceable, he assumed that they had begun talking about Vera, or something similarly heavy. He was glad that Ellie found someone her age to share her burdens with. Joel could only provide to her to a certain extent, but a trusted friend the same age as her could help her better.

He glanced once to the side and saw Tommy walking out to stand by him, having found the matchbox he had been looking for.

'That's a refreshin' sight,' Tommy pointed his chin at Ellie and Johnny across the street as he tucked a cigarette between his lips. He offered another to Joel, and he took it reluctantly. The summer sun stretched across the streets and rooftops unflinchingly, and dragonflies buzzed around the bushes and grass. Joel even felt a drop of sweat trickling down his chest, under his old cotton flannel. Tommy leaned forward, resting his elbows on the railing and watching the kids across the street. He lit his cigarette and ran a hand through his dirty-blonde hair, breathing out a puff of smoke. 'How she been holdin' up?' he asked.

The kid's backs were turned towards them, as they leaned against the fencing of a garden, talking. Ellie shifted, folding her arms across her chest, her hair tied up in a bun as she looked at Johnny. Johnny seemed nervous, tracing shapes on the grass below with his shoes.

'You know her,' Joel mumbled, taking a drag of his cigarette as he handed the matchbox back to Tommy. Smoke spiraled out of his mouth as he rested his hands on the railing. 'She'll get through.'

Tommy glanced sideways at him, saw the white strands in his hair and beard that seemed to be increasing with each month. Sun slanted across Joel's features as he looked, part of it out of the porch's shadow. The hair on his chin was almost completely white now, and Tommy noticed with a light snort that it had grown. He probably hadn't trimmed in a few days. Tommy registered this fact with perturbation. He knew this pattern of behaviour that Joel often repeated, when something was bothering him. He was a simple man, and he could hide his emotions and bury them deep, but he was oblivious to the fact that he let out subtle signs like that slip. These were always Tommy's clues to uncover his true thoughts.

'And you?' Tommy asked, cigarette held between fingers. 'Don't see you hangin' around folks much.'

Joel looked unamused, bored with the question. 'When did I ever?' he simply replied.

'You know what I mean,' Tommy explained, his eyes gauging his brother's face carefully. 'Since Kenda left, you been . . distant.'

Tommy knew of course, that it was a temporary problem. Whenever something bad happened, Joel's first move was to retract into an impenetrable shell and keep to himself, until he was ready to step out again. The only person he had seen Joel speaking to in more than two syllables was Ellie, and sometimes Tommy himself. Tommy knew there was no use prying, but he felt compelled to anyway, more out of force of habit than concern.

'Tommy, I'm fine,' Joel insisted, eyebrows creasing lightly as he shot a meaningful look at him. 'Just . .' he leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice, 'What's the deal with that firefly problem?'

Tommy held Joel's gaze for a moment longer, and then simply said, 'Inside, come on.'

Joel glanced back at Ellie and Johnny once, and then followed Tommy inside. Tommy sat on the chair opposite to Joel, across the coffee table. Joel leaned forward on the couch, elbows rested on his knees, his cigarette hanging ignored between his fingers as he waited for Tommy to speak.

'I've been wanting to discuss with you,' Tommy confessed. 'I spoke to that lady at the military base, Claire. Joel, it ain't lookin' good. They're definitely in numbers out there . . She looked pretty bothered by it too.'

The sun streamed in from the open door and window, and Joel could see the familiar worry in his brother's eyes. He tapped one foot repeatedly on the floorboards. Joel didn't react much, simply waited for him to go on.

'It ain't a threat, yet,' Tommy shrugged faintly. 'Maybe in a year or two, it could be. So I need you to tell me,' Tommy bent forward, meeting Joel's gaze cautiously as he spoke, 'exactly what happened at the facility last Spring.'

Joel shook his head, taking a drag from the cigarette as he prepared to explain it to Tommy. He had already told Tommy about the incidents back at Salt Lake City, but he had never gone into details. All Tommy knew was that Joel had taken Ellie and killed Marlene.

'There were a bunch of them militants there,' Joel began, his voice sombre, scratching his beard. 'I killed a few of them, escaped some others. I killed the head surgeon and his assistants too, and then Marlene,' he caught Tommy flinching at this, but he went on unbothered, 'From what I know, those were the only ones that knew who me and Ellie were.'

'None of them soldiers knew you?' Tommy asked, a shimmer of hope in his eyes.

'No,' Joel answered, and then hesitated. 'I . . I don't think so. Heard few of them talkin', they just called me a smuggler from Boston. By the looks of it, that's all they knew 'bout me. Probably didn't know Ellie's name neither. .'

Tommy looked relieved at this. There were a hundred smugglers in Boston, and smugglers always had a habit of posing an alias through fake IDs back in the QZs. So even if the Fireflies tried, it would take them a long time to figure out that it was Joel who had smuggled Ellie.

'Still,' Tommy said.

'I know,' Joel immediately agreed. 'We ain't in the clear yet. And your men . .' Joel looked out of the window and saw Ellie and Johnny laughing. '. . They keep talkin' about Ellie. I seen them whisperin' and pointin'. You gotta do somethin' about that.'

Tommy waved it off with his hand. 'Men talk, no big deal,' he simply said. 'They don't mean no harm. Ain't gonna be a problem.'

'Well nobody can know about her, Tommy,' Joel said, his voice slightly louder as he gestured to the window. 'Christ, you got any idea what's gonna go down here if they find out about her condition?'

Tommy looked slightly taken aback, his eyebrows scrunching as he regarded his brother for a moment. 'You didn't think of that when you brought her to me last year?' he simply said, his voice lower, his tone deeper as a shadow passed his eyes. 'Didn't think of it when you killed all them fireflies? When you killed Marlene?'

Joel scoffed, and shook his head in defeat. 'I'm not doin' this with you Tommy,' he simply said, leaning back. 'We can sit here and yell at each other all day, that won't solve the problem now, will it?'

Tommy held his gaze firmly. His throat moved once as he gulped, and his eyes drifted to the coffee table in front of him as he nodded faintly. He put his cigarette back in his mouth and spoke, 'Nobody knows, except for me and Maria. Gonna keep it that way. Kenda?'

Joel gave a slight nod, and Tommy reflected the movement understandingly. 'Well she ain't here now, so don't matter anyway,' he mumbled. 'Ellie always covers up that mark, don't she?'

'She's a smart girl, yeah,' Joel nodded.

'Well, then . .' Tommy gave a faint shrug. 'We'll let things be the same way for now. There's no real threat yet, Joel. Even if the Fireflies go around in Boston askin', it'll take them a long time without Marlene's crew to know your name . . We're okay for now.'

Joel shared his brother's relief, but it wasn't as easy on him. His eyes drifted to the floorboards as he began to spiral into thought, pondering about how he could keep their secret hidden.

'If the situation demands it,' Tommy said, his voice lower, almost a whisper, 'And if the town folks start gettin' doubts and such, I can arrange for you two to stay somewhere away, somewhere safe until the air clears out. Ain't gonna be a problem.'

Joel heard footsteps heading to the house, and looked up to see Ellie walking in, talking to Johnny. He immediately crushed the cigarette butt against the wooden armrest, glancing at them as they made their way to the backyard, his eyebrows raised in slight surprise as he breathed out a puff of smoke.

'Whatcha doin' there?' Tommy asked, an end of his lips curled in a smile as he turned to look at the two kids.

'Oh, we're just talking,' Ellie smiled at him, turning to face him as she took small steps backwards to the kitchen door. She pursed her lips in a smile at Tommy, and then said, 'Johnny here thinks Cordyceps is a plant, because it has flowers.' She pointed a thumb at a bewildered Johnny, who flushed with embarrassment as he denied her claim.

'It's fungal, son,' Tommy waved his cigarette at him faintly, his smile still lingering on his lips. 'Plants and Fungi are different.'

'I know, I just-' Johnny glared at Ellie as she giggled and led him into the backyard.

Tommy looked back at Joel, and found him staring at the two teens until they had disappeared behind the door. His barely-there smile soon faded as he looked back at Tommy.

'It's gonna be alright, Joel,' Tommy said, with a light nod. 'Goddamn if I let anythin' happen to the two of you while I'm still alive.'

Joel didn't look convinced by his brother's promise, but nodded half-heartedly at his loyalty.

* * *

The sun was hidden behind clouds as Kenda walked to the settlement. She wore a light t-shirt and a denim jacket, her hair pulled up in a bun to avoid the humidity from sticking to her skin. The brick buildings on either sides of the street were old, full of moss and creepers, but that didn't stop people from making it their homes. She folded her arms across her chest and glanced around carefully, as if making sense of everything.

Barely ten families lived in Gene's improvised "zone". These were people that he had managed to keep alive, natives of the town itself. They could barely be called families, there were not more than three kids to be seen anywhere. The men and women here, however, played a very active part in Gene's mercenary group.

She sighed, walking along and meeting eyes with the people as she looked at them speculatively, and they looked back at her like she was a strange being. She saw a mother and a daughter in a broken, over-grown lawn, the daughter barely ten, running around her mother in circles, squealing and laughing. Kenda stopped, watching discreetly as they played. The daughter slowed down for a moment, looking back at her, and with a grubby, dirty finger, pointed.

'It's that lady, mom? The boss's daughter?'

The mother immediately looked at her like she had just realised. She shushed her child and dragged her into the house, partly out of fear and partly out of embarrassment.

Kenda saw the others noticing her too, talking in hushed tones. She turned immediately and headed back towards the Moore Inn, where Gene and his soldiers were holding out. 'Headquarters', they called it. The name made Kenda scoff and roll her eyes.

When she entered the parking lot, the guards instinctively began smiling and nodding, calling out her name as she approached.

'Hey, hey sarge!'

'Come on, we're playin' cards!'

'Remy's bettin' his beer rations!'

Kenda shook her head with a smile as she looked at them. 'You go ahead, boys!' she replied, walking past them. 'I got a meeting with big ol' Pops.'

The men groaned and threw their hands in the air, some of them laughing.

She went down the hallways and the stairs, entering an enormous marble-floored hall that once used to be a ball room. Now, soldiers and mercenaries sat in the hall, chatting, betting, sorting weapons that they had purchased. A group of men cheered on a fight at a corner, clapping and yelling.

She saw the newcomers, the hunters and bandits that Gene had recruited from the road. Five of them leered at her as she passed by, one of them even let out a whistle. A man from the side then nudged him and told him to shut up, hissing that he didn't know who he was dealing with.

Kenda ignored them and walked to the right, to the room that Gene usually used as his office. She closed the door behind her and looked at the desk. Dull daylight streamed in through the dirty windows, illuminating the long oak-wood desk, that on once belonged to the hotel manager. Racks and shelves lined the walls, metal crates and boxes full of supplies sat around the desk. She opened the drawers, going through the latest batch of letters, visibly cautious.

She locked the door and returned, going through the pile again, carefully reading the sender's name and addresses. She cursed at every unfamiliar name she went through.

Finally, her fingers found a white envelope, and when she turned it around, she saw the two-opposing Fs stamped in black. The Fireflies.

With a shaky breath, and eyes darting to the door once in a while, she opened the already torn envelope and went through its contents. Most of it was blabber about some conflict going on in the West, requesting mercenary assistance from Gene's crew in exchange for some payment. There was no mention of any new leader. Kenda pursed her lips as she read the final paragraph, her breath stuck in her throat, her eyes squinting like she was trying to make sure that it was real.

' . . _Marlene's death left a lot of cold leads. Still not clear about the party that attacked her, but talks of some opposing faction are in the air. A witness from the incident says he's seen a red-haired girl who was immune, and rumours are that Marlene was using her to make a cure, or something. No details yet, she kept it top-secret. The details still have to be confirmed, and once we learn of the said "immune girl" we'll send you the specifics and you're go to carry out the mission. Payment will be discussed soon.'_

She closed the letter and put it back, hiding the box in the drawer just as the door opened. When Gene entered, he saw her facing the window, looking out at the over-grown garden. She turned and looked at him, playing it cool as he entered and took a seat behind the desk.

'Your hunters are oblivious,' she said, matter-of-factly.

'You're early,' he said. His voice was rumbling and deep, like a mountain of fury lurked just underneath to be provoked.

'Why'd you call me?' Kenda asked casually, as he turned the swivel chair around to face her. His steel grey eyes still sent a shiver down her spine, made her suck in extra air to keep herself from looking away. They regarded each other with an air of formality, like all feuds and grudges had been pushed aside temporarily in view of greater danger.

'I need you to commadeer your '22 crew,' he said, and she scoffed and looked away immediately.

'I'm not raiding any towns,' she simply said.

'No,' Gene replied, unamused by her reaction, slightly tired. 'But there's a group of hunters that have been bothering the perimeter. Need you to go 'round and cull them.'

Kenda looked back at him, registering the fact with a stoic face, nodding once for him to go ahead.

'I'll give you ten rifles, get it done,' he said. 'Try not to kill all of them. We need more men.'

Kenda dropped her hands, nodding once again. 'I'll do it tomorrow.'

He nodded at her, his eyes following her briefly as she exited the room. He turned to face her again as she stopped at the door, opening it reluctantly.

Her eyes were on the ground as she spoke, but raised to look halfway back at him. 'Today's her birthday, you know.'

Gene's face changed for a second, became stiff, like he was trying too hard to compress an emotion. He breathed out once, too long. She saw him closing his eyes and running a hand down his white beard.

'She would've been 68 by now,' Kenda added. A shadow took over her features, as the ends of her lips dipped in a light frown, her fingers hung around the door knob like she was waiting for something from Gene. Something that she knew would never come. She shut her eyes, breathing deeply as she heard him gruffing once.

 _'Get out,'_ he simply said.

Kenda pursed her lips, opened the door and exited, slamming it shut behind her so that the walls shook.


	20. Chapter Twenty: Cover

**FALL**

 **CHAPTER TWENTY**

 **Cover**

* * *

The first thing that Claire did was kick down the dirty wooden sign board that pointed to the town center. The two soldiers standing behind her snickered, while a third shook his head lightly, embarrassed.

Tommy clenched his fists, his jaws popping as he contained his rage. He felt Joel's reassuring hand on his shoulder, and met his eyes, old and understanding.

'Come on boys,' Claire said, her aviators reflecting the pale autumn sun. Passers by threw her dirty glances, which she accepted with a mocking grin. 'Take me to your town square.'

'This way,' Maria said, lifting a hand towards the street ahead.

Maria led them ahead, and as Claire passed by Joel and Tommy, she glanced at Tommy like he was a piece of meat.

'Fucking bitch,' Tommy muttered under his breath, his knuckles still popping as she walked away.

'Let it go, Tommy,' Joel mumbled. He could feel his own muscles tensing in the familiar urge to punch someone's face through the ground, but he resisted it.

They followed Maria and Claire's party shortly, Tommy's lips bent in a firm scowl.

'When did the military start givin' a shit about us anyway?' Joel asked, making an effort to calm his brother.

'Hell if I knew,' Tommy shook his head, pulling out his pack of cigarettes impatiently from his breast pocket. 'The bitch calls Maria up one mornin' askin' to be shown 'round town. Says it's new regulations. Says FEDRA's out there tryin' to mark all settlements on map.'

Joel let out an amused sigh, shaking his head once. 'Bullshit.'

'Ain't no way I'm buyin' that,' Tommy agreed. 'These people got some other ideas. I just know it.'

'Gotta cleanse the town of her presence when she's gone,' Jen's familiar voice mumbled from beside them. She joined them to their side, watching the soldiers with suspicious eyes as they followed.

'Man, we could really use Kenda's help about now,' Tommy uttered, breathing out a puff of smoke. His eyes moved to the sky as he closed his eyes gently, his chest heaving with relief at the taste of tobacco that grazed against his tongue.

'She would've handled these Military bitches.'

Joel looked distant for a moment, as his eyes moved to the ground and he seemed to breathe feebly, but deeply. 'Any word form her lately?' he finally asked, folding his hands across his chest.

Tommy glanced at Jen, who simply shrugged. 'None lately. Been looking at that morse code machine constantly. No word.'

Tommy shook his head lightly as he mumbled, 'Hope she made it there in one piece.'

They reached the town center, and people going about their daily chores were distracted by the presence of the uniforms. It made everybody uncomfortable, watching them walking across in long confident strides, assault rifles slung across shoulders, heads held up high like they were in a controlled QZ.

Maria led them into Hershel's pub, where people normally gathered every hour of the day for drinks.

'Here we go,' Tommy breathed heavily, annoyed. 'A round of fucked up demands and stupid negotiations.'

He opened the door and walked in, holding it back as he glanced at Joel questioningly. 'Care to join?' he simply asked.

'I'm good, thanks,' Joel said, grunting as he sat back on the bench by the window. The awning cast a dark shadow around the entrance, and Jen followed Joel, sitting beside him as Tommy nodded understandingly and disappeared inside the pub. The bell chimed faintly as the door closed behind him.

Jen made some small talk with Joel, joked about some military types back at her QZ. It made Joel smirk lightly, his eyes scanning the town center in front of him, watching the people talking, working, exchanging supplies. 'Town center' was simply a forced name, the place was just a wide sandy clearing where trees grew at the edges and in the center, and slabs were placed under each one haphazardly to imitate park benches.

He saw a woman carrying a sack of potatoes, and a teenage boy, probably her son, following her shortly behind with a gun slung across his shoulder. An old man sat back under a tree nearby, a cigar in his mouth as a collection of scavenged machine parts and fuel cans lay in front of him, ready for trade. The signs of Spring's raider attack still screamed form the few broken rooftops and injured limbs. It was clamorous, yet quiet. Like the life in the town was afraid to speak too loud, for the fear of being heard again.

'Well,' Joel said as he got up, glancing sideways at Jen. 'I'm gonna take off. Fill me in if anythin' happens.'

'Yeah, okay,' Jen nodded, getting up behind him as she turned to the pub door. 'Hey, you take it easy alright?'

Joel nodded and made his way home, walking through the streets back the way he had come. When he got to the porch of his house, he saw Ellie and Johnny at the end of the street, rifles on their shoulders as they shot at far-away targets.

'Hey, Joel!' Ellie waved at him, lowering her rifle lightly as she beckoned him. Johnny waved at Joel sheepishly as he approached, his eyes drifting to the ground.

'Look, you gotta help Johnny out,' Ellie continued as he stood in front of them, hands folded across his chest. She pointed her chin sideways at Johnny, who was fiddling with the safety of his weapon, looking up at Joel once in a while, almost apologetically.

Joel let out a sigh, as he motioned Johnny to take a shot, and stood back watching. Ellie stood beside him, and she could see Johnny's finger shaking lightly as he looked into the scope.

He pressed the trigger, and his body jerked back slightly at the recoil. The bullet hit a collapsed fence behind the target sheet.

'See?' Ellie exhaled, resting her hands on her hips, her rifle hanging on her shoulder. 'I keep telling him. Since last year, I don't know what's wrong.'

'Yeah, me neither,' Johnny mumbled, visibly embarrassed. 'I-I don't think I got it.'

Joel approached him, and took the rifle as Johnny handed it to him and stepped aside. Johnny waited patiently as Joel examined the rifle, checked the magazine and the bolt, and the roughly built-in scope that sat on top. It was an old gun, the maple wood stock was full of scratches and pick marks.

'Look, son,' Joel said, handing it back to Johnny, as he helped him hold it right, slowly lifting his elbow so it was at the same level as the gun. 'You gotta adjust the scope when you fire, alright?'

'Told him,' Ellie chimed form the side, and Johnny scowled at her. She made a face at him. Joel ignored their little exchange and continued to position the rifle form behind Johnny.

'Your shoulder can't be in the way,' Joel said, pushing his shoulder back sharply. 'Or the recoil's gonna break that bone good. You gotta give it space, get me?'

'Yeah,' Johnny mumbled lightly, positioning his weapon the way Joel told him to.

'Now look into the scope, adjust the sight and take a shot,' Joel said, stepping back as he rested his hands on his elbows, watching closely from being the boy. Johnny took a shaky breath, his chest rising and falling as his fingers found the scope.

'Whoa, what?' Ellie uttered, and Joel looked at her inquisitively. She was turned to the street ahead of theirs, where two uniforms were approaching, a man and a woman. Joel felt the muscles in his neck tensing as he stood up straight.

Johnny noticed the distraction and looked at the two soldiers as they approached. The man was old, maybe barely a year or two younger than Joel. The woman looked like she was in her 30's, with dirty golden hair pulled into a tight braid.

'Hey, look at that,' The man smiled, trying to appear friendly as he stood in front of the three of them, hands on his hips. He pointed at the rifle Johnny was holding. 'You sure you can pull that off, kid?'

Joel stood in front of the man, and the tension in the air grew thicker as the two men looked at each other.

'Your boss is back at the square,' Joel simply said, his eyes meeting the man's unflinchingly. 'You oughta be with her.'

'We wanted to explore,' The woman smiled form the side, folding her arms across her chest. 'Ain't no harm in that, right old man?'

'No,' Joel repeated, glancing at the woman, and then at the man. 'But I don't like strangers comin' in as they please. You should leave.'

'What's the rush, man?' The old man smiled again, walking ahead beside Joel, looking at Johnny. 'I could teach this boy here some good shootin'.'

'No, thanks,' Johnny said firmly, slinging the rifle across his shoulder. 'I got all the help I need.'

'Look, I understand,' the man said, looking at Johnny, and then Joel and Ellie. 'It's not good to trust soldiers. But we're just here to get to know the town better.'

'You guys could use some help, don't you think?' The woman spoke. 'Especially after that attack last season.'

Joel shook his head at the two of them, his eyes still gauging their faces in slight anger and suspicion. He beckoned Johnny and Ellie as he walked towards the house.

'Hey, you kid,' the woman said, holding a hand out in front of Ellie as she passed by. Ellie stepped back slightly, looking up at her. The woman looked slightly inquisitive, and with a sharp breath Ellie realised that her shirt sleeves were short. She discreetly folded her arms behind her, keeping them out of the woman's sight as she looked down at her. Her heart was racing already, and she could feel crawling under her skin as a chill passed down. She looked at Joel once, and saw that Joel had noticed it too. He stepped towards her and held Ellie by the shoulder, mumbling, 'C'mon, let's go.'

'Wait,' the man said, looking at Ellie and Joel as they turned turned to him.

Johnny gulped, bringing his rifle back in his hands slowly, standing beside Joel and Ellie as the man looked at her.

'You two were at the base last time, weren't you?' the man asked. 'With them two ladies. The black and the Cherokee. Ain't that right?'

Joel simply wrapped a hand around Ellie's shoulder and turned her away, as he resumed walking back to the house, Johnny following shortly. Ellie's mouth was dry, her tongue rough as she tried to swallow the unshakeable dread that was travelling up her spine. She didn't know why.

'I said, wait.'

A metallic click sounded behind them. Joel stopped in his tracks, one hand still around Ellie's shoulder as the other clenched into a tight fist.

'Turn around,' The woman said. 'And put your weapons on the ground.'

Johnny's hands were still tight around his rifle as he looked at Joel apprehensively. Joel nodded at him once, his lips pulled in a scowl. The three of them turned around slowly, Joel stepping aside from Ellie as she pulled down her rifle. He could almost feel her breath quickening.

The kids placed their weapons on the ground, their movements sharp and calculated as they saw the eyes of the two assault rifles pointed at them.

'Dont you fucking move,' The man said, approaching them step by step, lowering his gun. The woman still held her weapon at them from behind him.

Their demeanour had flipped a one-eighty, and Joel immediately knew. He could feel his insides panicking as he looked at them, scanning the surroundings and calculating for any form of escape, for anyway in which he could tackle the two soldiers without risking Johnny and Ellie. He still had his revolver tucked into the waistband of his jeans, sitting under his shirt.

The man reached towards Ellie's hand, and Joel reacted immediately, pushing him away. The woman shot at the ground in front of his feet.

'Stay the fuck back,' She warned, and pointed her gun at Johnny. 'Or the kid dies.'

Joel breathed deeply, his eyes shutting tight as a vein popped in his temple. Ellie was breathing loud, trying to calm herself down as the man approached her again. He didn't make an attempt to touch her, wary of Joel's presence beside her.

'Yeah,' the man said aloud, scanning Ellie's face as she glowered at him. Her green eyes blazed from under her eyebrows as she looked up at the man.

'Red hair, green eyes,' he announced. 'Scar on right eyebrow.'

Ellie's hands balled into fists. Joel felt his heart sinking, his jaws clenching as the woman pulled out her Walkie.

'Claire, we found her,' she spoke. 'West-end of town. Dead end.'

Johnny's ragged breaths ringed in their ears as the silence engulfed them. The only other sound they could hear was the Walkie's static.

The static cut, and a familiar woman's voice spoke from the other end.

'Good job,' it said. 'Keep her there. I'm comin'.'

* * *

Ellie didn't think. She didn't make any calculations, she didn't even stop to process the distance between her and the soldiers. As soon as the man exchanged a look with the woman, and the walkie went silent, she pounced at his back and drove her switchblade right through the nape of his neck. It punctured skin and muscle, and blood spurted out, wetting her luckless and hands. Joel immediately pulled out his revolver and shot three rounds at the woman before she could fire. Her body fell to the ground in a pool of blood. The man was still writhing on the tarmac, clutching a hand against his wound desperately as his mouth and nose filled up with his blood.

'C'mon, let's get the hell outta here,' Joel said, pulling Ellie away by her elbow. Johnny stood by them shaken, face pale and colourless.

'Come on, Johnny,' Ellie called as she followed Joel, tugging at his elbow.

Johnny snapped out of it, glancing down at the bodies once, and them turned to follow the two into the house.

Joel hurriedly gathered some ammo, while Ellie rushed upstairs and collected her backpack and a quilted jacket. She rushed downstairs, where Joel was pocketing two rifle magazines, glancing up at her with that panicked look in his eyes as she walked to him.

'Where do we go?' Johnny asked, pacing up and down the floorboards as he cracked his fingers, looking at the two of them with wide eyes.

'Let's, ah,' Joel struggled as he pulled out his backpack form behind the couch, his hands fiddling with the flaps as he tried to gather more weapons. '. . . Tommy's. Let's go to Tommy's.'

'No, wait!' Ellie exclaimed, and then pulled off her backpack, rummaging through it as Joel and Johnny looked at her hopefully. She pulled out a small rusty iron key, her green eyes bobbing between the two of them as she held her breath for a second, trying to contain her rush and panic. 'I got Kenda's keys. It's on the other side of town and it's been closed for four months. Nobody would know.'

Johnny looked at Joel, who nodded quickly. 'That's good. Keep it safe. Let's go.'

He took them out through the backyard, kicking down a board from the fence to make way for them to squeeze through.

Ellie appeared out on the other side, onto an empty patch of land at the end of the neighbouring street. She hastily pulled on the quilted jacket, pulling down the sleeves to her knuckles as she followed Joel ahead. Johnny was beside her, his rifle on his shoulders as he looked at her bewildered.

'What the hell was that?' he asked her. 'Why were they after you guys?'

Ellie shook her head, looking ahead at Joel as he led them behind a collapsed house.

'It's a long story,' Ellie mumbled. 'Stay close.'

* * *

 **A/N: So I'm back! My exams are done, hopefully well. I'm sorry for the gap you guys, from now on I'll try to make each chapter longer to give you guys more. I think I've lost the few readers I had too, after this gap. . . haha . . hahaha . . . please don't be gone. Read and review.**


	21. Chapter Twenty-Two: Arcane

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

Arcane

* * *

Static sounded blurry and loud in the dank room, as Gene sat cross-legged on an old swivel chair. His hand found the knob on the radio, finding a channel that wasn't contaminated with empty waves.

Kenda sat across his on the conference table, hands folded across her chest as she looked at him working the machine. Two men stood behind her, on either side of the table. Soon enough, the static faded, and after a little adjustment, they could hear a familiar voice across the speaker.

'Gene? That you?'

Gene exchanged a short glance with Kenda and the men.

'Yeah,' Gene answered. 'What's the news?'

The voice spoke again, breaking the faint background noise. It was Claire.

'Located the girl. Two soldiers of mine died trying to get her,' Gene closed his eyes for a second, breathing out heavily like he was trying to contain a fit of rage. 'She escaped with that man. Before we could get round to hunting them down half the town's security was on our ass. Had to get outta there.'

'But she's there,' Gene said, an eyebrow cocked as his jaws clenched.

'Yeah,' Claire replied. 'She's there alright. Fits the description perfectly. Can't do shit with the force we have here though. Need backup if we wanna take on the dingy town and the girl.'

'You tellin' me,' Gene said, turning slightly to the window as the chair creaked under his weight. His eyes drifted to Kenda's once, catching them bluntly as he spoke into the mic, 'That you can't take on a town of mud-dwellers by yourself?'

Silence.

Kenda looked out the window, unbothered by his comment.

'It ain't easy Gene,' Claire finally replied. 'This ain't an official military mission, so we got no back-up. Just doin' it cause I respect your ass, and wanted to help you as much as I could. You want to see this through, come down here and get it done yourself. I tried, but I ain't puttin' any more of my soldiers on the line for your dirty work, especially when you ain't payin' me shit.'

'Yeah,' Gene shook his head lightly, his white beard bristling against the nylon of his old windbreaker. 'Guess I'll have to do this by myself for now. Appreciate your help.'

Claire took a moment, like she was pushing aside her agitation in mutual respect. 'You're welcome.'

Gene lowered the mic, and placed it aside on a the table. He stroked his beard with a hand, looking out the window in deep thought.

'What're you thinking?' Kenda asked in a low voice, head tilted to the side as she scanned his face for any clues.

'We got time until winter,' he replied, eyes scanning the horizon outside the window. The light cast shadows across a half of his face, showing only one eye, and his snowy beard that covered his jaw.

'We gotta find the girl before then,' he added, looking back at Kenda. 'How much do you know about them?'

Kenda shifted, meeting his gaze blandly.

'Not much,' she replied. 'Saw them round town a couple of times. Mostly they stayed away from everyone.'

Gene held her gaze for a moment longer, a clear sign of wavering trust.

'The man is old,' Kenda continued, ignoring his accusing glance. 'He's strong. The girl isn't weak either.'

'She's a kid,' Gene said.

'I've seen her kill men with a single blade,' Kenda immediately defended. 'I've seen her take shots better than some soldiers.'

Gene looked unconvinced, but let out a light sigh. Then he gave a light nod. 'The Fireflies are paying us a lot. If we get the girl, we can keep our hold strong for another year here. I'll give you further instructions soon. Go.'

Kenda nodded, letting her arms fall to the side as she turned and walked out the room, followed by the two men.

She walked across the empty hallway, and the men beside her glanced at her occasionally, clearly confused.

'What?' Kenda asked, looking at them sideways, noticing their nervousness.

'Nothin',' one of the men, Remy, replied.

'You got something to say, say it,' Kenda urged, opening the door to the dormitory, where empty mattresses sat on the floor, and a table surrounded by old chairs sat in the center.

'So we really gonna go with this?' the other man asked. His name was Marv.

Kenda let out a loud, long sigh, clearing some papers and debris from the chair and sitting on it. 'Isn't he the leader?' she simply said, picking up some of the papers and going through them. 'We gotta do what he says.'

'Yeah, but . .' Remy exchanged a glance with Marv, taking a seat on the table facing Kenda. She looked at him once, noticed his apprehensive expression and went back to the papers.

'The last mission he sent us on,' Remy explained, shifting uncomfortably on the table. 'Well . .'

'Men died,' Marv filled in, standing in front of her, arms crossed. 'The same town. Thirty men died. And before that, we raided some other bottom-dwelling town and twenty men died.'

'That's all we been doin' here,' Remy continued, as the two pairs of tired eyes looked down at her. Kenda kept her eyes in the paper, going through the records with wavering interest.

'Gettin' sent to distant places and gettin' killed or shot or bit,' Remy explained. 'We were eighty when we came here a year ago. Now we're less than fourty.'

Kenda put the papers down impatiently and turned towards them. The files clattered on the table as she rested her elbows on them, clearly annoyed. Her eyes were thin, glassy, blazing.

'You knew what you were getting into when you came here with him,' she said. 'You know him. You know what he does and what he stands for.'

'Sarge, we were desperate,' Marv explained. 'Either way, we were dying. But coming here and dying on our terms seemed better for some reason.'

'Well then,' Kenda shrugged, sitting back in her seat. 'You're getting what you asked for.'

'That's what we thought, sarge,' Remy said, looking at her pleadingly. 'But . . this is worse. A month ago Gene shot down a man because he wasted ammo on some runners down the east district . . I-It don't seem right.'

'Look,' Kenda got up, hands folded across her chest as she paced up and down the room, eyes on the floorboards. 'I can't help you. I can only do so much, but I can't stop him.'

'No,' Remy said immediately. He stood up behind her, looking at her as she turned to face him. The light cream curtains billowed behind her, tattered and tainted. A tree swayed in the light autumn drizzle outside.

Remy met her eyes meaningfully, saying much more with his look than his words. 'You can't,' he added.

Kenda felt the sudden turn this conversation was taking, the weight the presence of these men was suddenly bearing on her.

'But we can,' Remy nodded. Behind him, Marv stood against the table, hands folded across his chest as he looked at her from under his eyebrows.

'We just need someone else to trust. Someone else to lead,' Remy explained.

Kenda felt a sudden jolt in her spine, her heart stopped for a moment. Then it sank down, deep down. Her gaze lowered to the floor as she realised the heaviness in his words. She couldn't deny it, she had felt it coming for a while. She had seen it in the way the men turned away from Gene when be passed by, chattered behind his back. The way the men and women had been seeking her out for help on Gene's orders, to ask her and talk him into submission. The very reason she had decided to come here in the first place.

'We got majority with us,' Marv added, as if helping her thoughts into a direction.

Kenda acknowledged his words with a slight nod, her eyes still on the floorboards as she sighed.

There was something else rising in her mind now- a memory, fragments that were blowing into her head like the breeze. Events from two decades ago, of a dank, dark room, of herself standing in front of a broken door as she held a revolver with nothing more than a single bullet.

The screeching from across the hallways. The thumping of footsteps as they came running, and she shut the door, stepping back and falling by the tired, old body of her mother.

 _'Do it, Kenda. Don't let them get to us.'_

The decision she had had to make, weighing the almost empty weapon in her head as infected banged on the door.

Clenching her jaws, swallowing the pain and the dragging lament in her chest as she braced herself, and pointed the muzzle of the gun at her mother's head. The way her fingers were stiff as she pulled the trigger.

The guilt and the sting that tortured every part of her as help arrived minutes later, just when her fingers were going to drive a blade of glass across her own throat.

The years following, when Gene had changed and drifted apart from being a father, to just a commander.

'We just need you to get him into the room,' Marv said.

'No,' Kenda immediately uttered, looking up to meet their eyes with a determined gaze. 'If we're gonna do it-' her voice got caught in her throat for a moment, but she regained it just as quick. '-If we're gonna do it, it's gotta be a fight. No stabbing him in the back. Understand?'

The two men looked at her apprehensively. Remy opened his mouth to say something, but stopped.

'Understand?' Kenda repeated. She blinked once, and the moisture in her eyes disappeared.

The men hesitated for a moment, and then nodded curtly.

* * *

 _'On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair,_

 _Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air . ._

 _Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light,_

 _My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim_

 _I had to stop for the night . ._

 _There she stood in the doorway,_

 _I heard the mission bell . ._

 _And I was thinking to myself,_

 _"This could be heaven or this could be Hell" . .'_

The song played loud into Ellie's ears. Her eyes drifted along the dimly lit ceiling, gauging the wet stains on the wood, the peeled off paint in the corners. She fiddled with another one of Kenda's mix tapes, listening to the one she had found in the cupboard earlier. The fire in the fireplace crackled in front of her feet, and she felt the heat warming her toes in waves.

She saw Joel's form passing by behind her, and she propped herself up on her elbows, looking back at him from the armrest of the couch. Beside her, Johnny was fast asleep on the chair, his head hanging to the side, mouth wide open.

She saw Jen getting her a bowl of chopped carrots and beets. Ellie pulled back one of the earphones and took the bowl eagerly, thanking her.

Tommy was standing beside the window, hands folded across his chest as he spoke to Joel and Maria in hushed tones.

Ellie kept one earphone out on purpose as she chewed on the vegetables, listening to bits of their conversation innocently.

' . . Knew this was gonna happen. Shouldn't have gone to the goddamn military in the first place . .'

'It's done, Tommy. Think about what we do now,' Joel's voice was curt and to-the-point, the way he spoke when he was agitated, but knew better than getting into a fight to prove his point.

'The people will be asking questions,' Jen added, as she joined them from the side, leaning to the side on the wall beside Tommy. 'They'll wanna know.'

'They don't know nothin' yet,' Joel said, his voice a little more patient. 'They got no idea why they were here and what they were lookin' for.'

'Yeah, that won't be problem for now,' Maria confirmed. 'We can tell them they were here because of some bounty or something, for Joel or Ellie. Everybody understands and respects that.'

'Look, that ain't the problem here, the thing is that they _know_ -,' Joel stopped, and the four of them followed Tommy's gaze to Ellie.

Ellie looked at them absently, chewing a bit of beet in her mouth. She looked away immediately, forcing her eyes to the boring fire. Reluctantly, she pushed the earphone back in, letting the music envelope her again. With a deep breath, she got up and walked into Kenda's bedroom, closing the door behind her. She sat in the alcove by the window, looking out at the light drizzle that shook the leaves and branches of a distant oak.

Her eyes drifted down, to her slender, pale fingers, then up to her scar. She traced the irregular mark lightly, feeling the broken, uneven texture of skin that covered it up. She felt the flattened infected growth that lingered in bumps.

The door opened, and Johnny stepped in, awakened abruptly form his sleep. He rubbed his eyes as he closed the door behind him and walked to her, sitting across the alcove on the other end, facing Ellie as she looked at him defeated. She pulled out her earphones and switched off her Walkman.

'I had no idea,' Johnny mumbled, hesitantly gesturing at her scar. 'I-I really didn't. I can't imagine what it must've been like. Sorry . .'

'Don't apologize,' Ellie shook her head, her gaze falling to the scar again.

'It must suck,' Johnny finally said, scratching a side of his head.

'It does,' Ellie smirked wryly, glancing at him once before she looked back at her hand.

Johnny pulled his legs onto the wood, sighing as he observed her keenly. 'So what now?'

Ellie took a deep breath, getting herself to look at him straight. 'I don't know. I guess we gotta leave, or something like that . . Sure as hell can't stay here anymore.'

'Leave?' Johnny uttered, his features falling. 'Like . . forever?'

'I don't know, Johnny,' Ellie replied, slightly annoyed. 'Maybe. Maybe forever. Maybe I can't ever fucking live in a town again, because those assholes will hunt our asses down anyway.'

'Yeah, maybe,' Johnny mumbled in slight agreement.

Ellie shook her head lightly, her fingers still tracing the scar absent-mindedly.

'Hey,' Johnny said in a low voice, eyes fixated on her. 'Do you think . . '

Ellie turned to him eagerly, awaiting whatever he was going to ask her.

'Do you think . . You could just, you know . .' He pursed his lips for a moment, breathing. 'Like, give it up?'

Ellie looked at him plainly, and shook her head confused. 'What?'

'Like just give yourself up,' Johnny rephrased, with a light shrug. 'Go back and let the Fireflies take . . Whatever is inside you . .'

Ellie's eyes narrowed for a moment, her jaw clenched as she breathed out stubbornly and glanced at the window. Her eyebrows scrunched, forming deep furrows above her sharp nose.

'I-I mean,' Johnny recovered immediately, noticing the disturbing rage that was rising up in her eyes. 'I-I don't know what the world was like before all this, so I don't care . . But I wouldn't want you to die either. Because that'd suck . . A lot. I was just wondering . .'

Ellie took his words with fiery eyes, fingers lingering on her scar. Her eyes drifted across the rooftops of the town outside the window, the orange and pink hues in the sky as the sun set across the mountains. Her fingers moved away from her scar, closed in a fist, and rested against her folded knee.

'No,' she said, shaking her head lightly. Her voice was deep, firm. She turned to look at Johnny again. The tenacity in her eyes made him nervous, and he gulped. He nodded understandingly.

Her eyes drifted back to the window. Sights of corpses flashed across her head, blood on the streets and limbs torn away from bodies. Empty eyes turned to the sky, mouths dripping with dark blood. She saw the collapsed rooftops across the town in front of her.

Two pairs of eyes flashed in her head - hazel, and grey. Both full of life, both smiling and laughing. One of them died after being bit, the other for no reason at all.

And she couldn't help any of them now.

* * *

'Did you get it?' Joel asked in a light voice, as Jen walked in holding a bag in her hand. His hands were folded across his chest, his face turned in anxious worry.

Jen nodded, and looked across the room at Tommy and Maria who were glancing at her nervously.

Tommy walked to her, cigarette smoke rising up from the half-burned stub between his fingers. 'You sure you can do this?'

'Look, I'm no expert,' Jen shook her head, placing the bag on the coffee table in the center. She pulled out the contents one by one, bottles and instruments covered in sterile packets.

'I just have a little practice, that's all,' she said. 'It's been Twenty-two years since my last one, so I'm not making any promises.'

'This ain't funny,' Joel said firmly, hands falling to his sides in fists as he looked at her. 'This ain't no goddamn experiment. You gotta know what you're gettin' into here.'

Jen looked at him and sighed, and then looked at Tommy and Maria. The two of them looked as serious, and waited for her confirmation as she thought for a moment.

Finally, she nodded and mumbled, 'Yeah, I can do it.'

Ellie was laying across the bed, surrounded by five hurricane lamps on the tables and edges of the bed. Jen entered the room, holding a gas mask and sterile gloves.

'You ready?' Jen asked in a low voice.

Ellie looked at her and nodded. Johnny sat beside her, and she exchanged a glance with him.

'You should go, Johnny,' Jen said to him, as she arranged her instruments on the table at the foot of the bed. 'We don't know the situation. Better stay away till I'm done.'

Johnny looked at Ellie apprehensively, and then back at Jen. He nodded, patted Ellie on the shoulder reassuringly and left.

Ellie sighed loudly through her lips, throwing her head back as she looked at the ceiling.

'Will it hurt?' she asked in a low voice, glancing at Jen from the side.

Jen pulled out what looked like improvised wooden weapons and needles, a bottle of alcohol, another bottle of black liquid and rolls of cotton. She spread them out on the table, and the sounds made Ellie's heart race. Jen pulled her gas mask onto her face, covering her face and mouth, so her voice came out muffled.

'Before, we had better ways of doing this, to be honest,' Jen explained matter-of-factly. 'But now, well . . desperate times call for desperate measures. So yeah, it'll hurt and bleed. But hey, as long as you don't move a lot, it should be fine.'

Ellie blinked, looking back at the ceiling. 'That's comforting,' she mumbled sarcastically.

She felt Jen rubbing an alcohol-soaked cotton ball across her scar, and all along her arm below her elbow.

Ellie took a deep, unstable breath, and it was louder than she expected. She nervously put on her earphones and waited, shutting her eyes.

'Ready?' Jen asked. Ellie heard a clatter, and a constant plink-plonk, like something was being dipped in fluid.

Ellie played her music, and nodded nervously. The moment of anticipation seemed like the longest, as she waited for the pain to sting her skin.

'Make it look good,' she added in a breath. Jen chuckled, and mumbled in agreement.

When the first sting of pain pierced her skin, Ellie winced. She could feel blood seeping out around the needle as Jen drew the patterns into her skin, and each prick made Ellie wince even more.

As she lay there taking in the pain, with each sting, the same two pairs of eyes flashed in her head, and suddenly it didn't hurt as much.

The slowly rising, curdling, brimming rage was stronger than any physical pain she could feel.


End file.
